vie

Kashmir and I am

2011-05-09T03:14:00.000-07:00

For more than a quarter of a century I had never ventured beyond South India. When a friend of mine suggested I visit him in Kashmir I took it up without a second thought. The date was set to co-inside with the tulip blooming. Spring in Kashmir is unlike anything in India. As I gaze out of the tiny window from the plane a whole new world unfurled in front of me. A realisation that the cloud mass is actually just a line of clouds stopped by a massive range of snowcapped mountains brings geography lessons on the might of Himalayas to mind. The huge carpet of yellow sesame flowers is like watching nature's own version of the famed kashmiri carpet. The crisp mountain air rejuvenates the soul in a manner no medicine ever can.

The tranquil mood as I get out of the airport is disrupted by the heavy military presence and the constant undercurrent of fear. However, a drive around the centerpiece of srinagar - the serene misty mystical Dal lake - instills a state of surreal existence. The overpriced ride on a Shikar suddenly feels priceless as I float along on the mirror finished surface. A walk around the Mughal gardens is like a sneak peek of the opulent times of the mighty kings.

For a flavor of the local, there is the famous Rogan Gosht for the meat eaters and the lotus stem for the herbivores. While the kashmiri Kwava - a delicate saffron infused golden yellow tea with almond flakes - is a treat to the senses, the salty herbal tea refuses to go down without a fight. The coveted Pashmina, the hand woven carpets and carved walnut furniture are wonderful heirlooms. The saffron and walnuts need to be savored in the short run of life as is a visit to the valley at the head of the mighty nation.

As I sit in the theater watching the movie "I Am" it suddenly dawns on me the enormous void in the hearts of 300000 odd kashmiri pandits who were forced into a mass exodus. Working in IT and watching people relocate all the time and a thought floats, "My roots". Are childhood roots important or can we grow new ones like the aptly named runners of plants? I guess each individual has his own behaviour. Yet, on reflection, roots are still needed no matter what.

The looker

2009-10-26T05:51:00.001-07:00

I have gotten into this habit of looking at my phone and my gtalk messenger every now and then. It's because of sheer boredom. I wait for someone to think of me, call me, sms me or ping me and start a lively conversation. Just a distraction from the mundane task of sitting around. I should get over this and start doing something. I have like a myriad of hobbies to keep me occupied but I seem to have taken up the worst ones, procrastination and feeling low. Gonna actively work on changing it. Wish me the best! :)

Oh ya I get tired of waiting and call/sms/ping someone myself.

Absurd.

moments

2009-10-20T03:55:00.000-07:00

A snap of a couple sitting on a bench in lalbag shot by the "then" one...
A bracelet given by the "then" next one...
The dosa joint frequented with the "then" yet another next one...
The bench in 4th block with the long conversation late evening with some other one...
The chocolate bar gifted every meet by...
The cute funny tamil song introduced by...

The long passionate sweet loving hug given by them all....

The tear drop that forms at the thought of it all....

Ive something to tell you...

2009-10-20T03:45:00.000-07:00

My work life has seen me getting close to 3 women. All are now far away on different continents and all of them quit IT and are now full time housewives. In the past year or so I have see this line on the gtalk window from each one of them. Instinctively I know what's coming. :-) While I am happy to hear it, I am also gripped by anxiety of the things to come, if it will be alright and all that. There is also this tiny feeling that there is going to be someone else who is going to take up a lot of their time...some of it time that would have been my time with them. well...life goes on. It time I got used to the distance.

post op

2009-10-20T01:55:00.000-07:00

It's been almost 3 months since I had my hernia repair surgery done. I still get pain once a while and most new movements always result in some sort of pain. To make things worse I have sprained or whatever the other side too while driving the car! And today I wore a smaller pair of pant and when wearing the shoes I kinda I guess pressed the muscles in the healing area a bit. The damn thing is hurting since morning! I get quite worried when such things happen and to make matters worse I read all kind of crap on the net that gets me even more worried! God I think I should live with a doc! I need constant attention! :) And oh ya ive been soo restless cause of the worry that I just want to go home! God! ammmh!

the wintery summer day

2009-03-10T07:19:00.000-07:00

It's been hot as hell and April is still a month away. Bangalore, the then garden city that didn't need even a fan in peak summer, today has A/Cs running around the year. In an unexpected but pleasant change, the last two days have seen the mercury fall, almost 6 degrees. Sitting in the middle of the southern peninsula, I can smell the heady scent of the rains soaked earth far away on the eastern coast.

Nature beckoning, I headed out to do the South Banglorean thing. Hot crisp dosa and a by two coffee with a friend at the famed Vidyarthi bhavan in Gandibazar. The fragrance of the garlands - hung on the road side trees for sale welcomes - the foodie in me.

Riding back was a relaxing enjoyable experience. It was as if the tensions of the city were some how removed by the calm soothing weather. I can't help but let nostalgia creep in - of the days gone by when Bangalore had a lot more of such days.

The Bull ride

2009-03-04T22:35:00.000-08:00

After long, I had a lovely experience that made me wanna blog.

A friend of mine has got a new bike, a lovely Bullet electra with a thump that thumps up one's heartbeat. We decided we would hit the roads at night, being in Bangalore traffic is something that can kill the joy of riding even a "Bull".

A short ride ended up being a ride all the way out on kanakapura road till the AOL ashram. We crossed the bustling city streach and voila! The nearly empty, tree lined, winding road; the heavenly vault with the cresent moon, twinking stars and the bike head light leading our way; and the pollution free, warm, summer air united the heart beat with the thumping of the bike and the chords of nature.

It's been many years I went on a long ride being the pillion. It's been a decade or longer I sat on a Bullet. It was a first time experience riding out of the city late in the night. As we returned home, I was strangely at peace but I only wish...our highways were safer at night.

Im begining to wonder that we are indeed thankless

2008-12-02T22:58:00.000-08:00

Mumbai terror blasts. The news channels have been raving abt this and blaming everyone from Pak to Politicians to People. In all this we forgot to say thank you to those who came forward and saved hundreds of lives. Be it those commandos who faced the enemy or the doctors who worked 3 days without sleep. All that we like to do is point fingers and blame. Can we get any less thankless? The media was all hyper when pak media blames them but why are they not showing images of doctors saving lives or the wounded commandos taken care of? And just say one word, "THANK YOU" for saving so many lives, for being brave and facing the enemy and bringing it to an end.

yet another ad with a missed attention to detail

2008-10-26T03:15:00.000-07:00

Recently I saw Amir khan in an ad where he is washing utensils for his wife. I am not very sure but I vaguely recollect he had split up. Anyway, the actual annoying thing was that he had the tap running as he was just scrubbing the plate and talking into the camera, and the water was flowing in full force!! Why waste so much water!!! :(

Going global

2008-10-24T01:25:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I wonder what makes Indians so desperate that we are ready to forgo our traditions just to make money. Especially so with the so called Global companies coming into the arena.

Deepavali/Diwali is a time of year where traditionally the company gives gifts to employees - at the very least a box of sweets. If a company sends a mail greeting people and saying gifts will reach in 30 days, perhaps the management got it's ideas really wrong, considering diwali and it's dates were known at least a year ago! I wonder how it would be to hear such a thing around Christmas time. Motivation... oh well ya a month later buddy :-)

I have even heard of companies where people are given holidays in line with US. In fact to such an extent that they get holidays for US independence day but not Indian. Did someone say globalization? Perhaps it's synonymous with westernization...

The iron ladies

2008-10-01T00:35:00.000-07:00

I am pleasently surprised at the fact that the media houses are airing movies focused on LGBT life and for a change the movies don't focus on the only thing that everyone seems to want to link LGBT with - AIDS.

The first one I can recollect is Birdcage aired on star movies recently. It's about how this couple wants to lead a normal life involving getting the son married to a conservative politician and the like. This is a typical US movie. More here.

Today morning WM channel aired The Iron ladies. A thai movie shot in 2000 about this group of G and T group who play volley ball against straight men and win, that too at national level. It was quite nice to see LGBT being portrayed as sportsmen and better still that the team consisted of all kind of queer people, the quite and masculine to the loud and queeny types. More here.

Hope that the 377 case is fought fair and won. It's not just the health issues that is of concern here (I am sure AIDS does not discriminate homos and heteros) but more importantly the suppression of a minority's right to lead a normal life.

judgement call

2008-10-01T00:05:00.000-07:00

Setting:
Riding to office on the bike. Stranger "uncle" on the road looking for a hike.

Thoughts:
a) Humanity and the crap, lets give him a ride. It's just another person looking for help
b) He has a helmet, bike might have broken down. He sure can afford a bus ticket as he looks quite well off. Bus stand 2 steps from where he is. Don't stop, might be a risky proposition.

Act:
Too many loose ends. Better to keep going.

Justified further by:
I live in Bangalore. Quite a few bomb blasts of late. Festival day. Better off without the risk.

vandalism and ads

2008-09-30T23:51:00.000-07:00

Just when I thought of posting about an ad I saw recently on tv, I read this post. It verbalizes my thoughts most aptly.

vegetarianism and food crisis

2008-06-17T04:54:00.000-07:00

I was watching TV the other day when the host was teasing the guest that according to latest news, about 10kg of grain goes into obtaining 1Kg of flesh. The guest kidded if he should go vegetarian.

Why not! As humans we really have acheived tremendrous acheivements. In all this advancements, we have lost some basic human nature, "we are social beings." There are hundreds of people without food but those lucky ones who can food on time done even seem to be bothered. I see the following places where we can make an effort and improve situation for our own species.

1) The world at large is non-veg mostly. There are hundreds of veg dishes. Why not switch to it at least once a week?

2) At homes and hotels, cook food that is sufficient enough to feed the amount of people who ordered it. Most places serve more than enough quantity, this is specially true of rice and noodles. Sometimes we pack the left overs but most of the times we just throw it. It's more profitable to give less isn't it?

3) Lots of food gets wasted at many office because they are just not edible. It's cooked that bad. Perhaps its time hoteliers take up this issue of massive wastage and cook edible food? This is particularly true where food is catered.

The world is getting better and these are a few things I follow to make it a little better.

Monsoons

2008-06-04T01:43:00.000-07:00

Refreshing droplets
Cleansed air
Fresh thoughts
Elevated mood
Wet Greenery
Cool Breeze
- Life, Simple and Flying high

Dark clouds
Roaring thunder
Filthy streets
Overflowing drains
Depressed soul
- Man, Modern and Depressed

Bangalore and Heritage

2008-04-08T23:29:00.001-07:00

It got me thinking, as I was reading the various posts about preserving Bangalore's heritage landmarks and how we are loosing a lot of the old buildings to the new mall and plaza culture. I can't but notice that people start harping about things only when the axe is to be brought down on it, be it trees or movie theaters of the begone era or the various charming buildings from the old Bangalore. Is just cribbing about the loss enough? Is it not more important that we do something before the crisis occurs and the buildings are forced to be torn down?

Let me take a particular example, Mayo Hall and Galaxy theater. While the former has got a new coat of paint and some renovation and is still earing huge revenues the latter is almost erased from people's memory and from the face of Earth. In today's economic scenario, these landmark buildings NEED to be renovated and made into an economically viable option. This city produces hundreds of top notch management and engineering graduates every year. Could they as citizens along with the owners of these landmark buildings not come up with ways to preserve these buildings and help them generate enough money to keep it standing for the years to come? Does the Government always have to do things? Do the citizens of this city not have any role to play at all except complain of the heritage lost or succumb to the greed?

Every day I pass by the Opera at Residency's and Brigade's junction. I can't help but conjure images in my mind of elegant shows and charming people at this lavish building and the spectators gazing in awe. I guess we will never see such an scene...

A surprise encounter

2008-04-08T22:55:00.000-07:00

As usual I was scourging through the Citizen matters webpage when I came across an article about IIWC. This place has been my childhoood haunt and I have quite literally grown up reading and studying in this library. With my mum being the librarian there, this is quite expected I guess. Herez the link to the article: IIWC.

Trees - advertisement

2008-04-08T01:17:00.000-07:00

Trees or No trees?

While we all love to claim that having a tree at home and it's advantages, it is often a pain to have random people pelting stones at the Mangoes/Gauvas et al. It becomes even more difficult when one intends to extend the house and axing the trees is such a difficult decision, one goes through a huge emotional trauma to see their favorite tree and child hood companion chopped down.

Looking for people who can design houses incorporating existing trees instead of axing them, any help welcome...

Congested roads and congested airwaves

2008-03-26T23:43:00.000-07:00

Are we justified in allocating a big piece of spectrum to the police force? Today as I was riding to office I passed through 3 signals with cops manning all junctions and fully equipped with wireless handsets and the works. An ambulance gets stuck in the first junction and with some difficulty it manages to get through. I would have expected the police man to call ahead and keep the traffic moving. No sir, I was mistaken, the guy just stood there least bit bothered. The same repeated at the next 2 junctions and the ambulance was stuck at the signal multiple times! It's appalling to know that our taxes are going into buying such expensive equipment and precious spectrum wasted, for this? To make matters worse, key roads in the city center are in a terrible state for years! Agreed they can't keep up all the roads but the city center needs to be maintained! Roads here cant be left unusable! More than half the road is full of potholes! Repairing these would make traffic so much more smoother and reduce the need for one ways! When are we going to wake up and realise the world is going by and we are going to be left behind if continue to be lazy and carefree! Can people imagine how painful it would be for a injured person to be taken on these horrible roads! Disgusting!

flowering trees in Bangalore

2008-03-24T23:30:00.000-07:00

It's that time of the year when Bangalore plays Holi and turns colorful, the greenery gives way for a riot of colorful flowers as a number of trees start blooming. Karthik has put up a list of the commonly seen flowering trees around http://www.wildwanderer.com/journal/flowering-trees/

So next time you take a stroll don't forget to look up at the trees! :-)

unidentified

2008-03-20T19:54:00.000-07:00

Everytime I read the paper, I come across this "wish to be unidentified" sources. I can imagine only 2 things then, gossipy people who just can't keep confidential stuff to themselves or selfish people who are ready to sell some small tidbit to a newpaper for some money. Unfortunately I dont like either breed of people. Anyone has a different opinion?

The world gets clearer

2008-03-12T21:41:00.000-07:00

and I can see the murkiness better...
Finally after months of procrastination I went and got myself a pair of spectacles. It is simply startling, the difference in clarity with the glasses on. Everything is crip and sharp and ohhh I am lost for words :-)
Every once a while I am so tempted to look out of the range of glasses, see the hazy picture in front of me and then look at the clear pic through these and smile at the change in perspective of the vision before me! :-)
Not to forget I am more in love with my intellectual looking self.

BIAL - thoughts

2008-02-14T01:29:00.000-08:00

I sometimes wonder if we Indians are just pure lazy and careless or we really dont want to be progressive. Bangalore, host to IIMB, on of the top B-Schools in India, host to huge companies like Infosys and Wipro with the most talented planners and visionaries, is facing a tremendous lack of planning. The international airport is an example staring in our face of how careless and carefree we are. Come April and we will all be made fools and idiots. The government's planners are going to be mocking at us for our disinterest our own welfare. We see time and again that the projects are a result of a capacity crunch, be it metro, airport or flyovers and roads. Why is it that we get educated people up there if they can't foresee growth and make an initiative to plan the growth? This is so irritating! I wish the human kind perishes. We are not worth of our intelligence to plan, languages to communicate and science for good health. We are very greed and selfish to the point of disaster. As a friend of mine said, I wish kalki takes form soon!

I knew it would happen!

2008-02-13T21:35:00.000-08:00

We hear this so very often in out lives. Every time we encounter failure there are ample number of people who come up and live up to the expectation of saying "I knew it would fail!". An interesting way to look at this failure comment is to assume that the idea failed even before the release. To get people to say why they thought it failed. It might lead to exposure of some serious flaws and give ample time to fix it in a rational, well thought of manner. A better bet at success or an increase in all round pessimism? I would say the former. After all, we hire testers and the best one better be pessimistic!

wired wireless!

2008-02-07T09:41:00.000-08:00

I finally managed to set up the adsl modem at home to give me a nice secure wireless connection to surf the net. It's so cool, no more attached to the wires and table business. I can happily sit in my garden and blog, surf and have a good time. :-)

Thanks to wiki pages, it made a lot of things so so convenient! No calls to the BSNL office and the endless wait and all that! I am glad we have stepped into the information sharing era. It is easy to find and retrieve it aswell! Way to go people!

Sunday - a pleasent memory

2008-01-27T07:56:00.000-08:00

The day started on a nice note. Got up not too late, not too early. I felt the day would be good, called a couple of friends to just make conversation and to just revive the connection. I feel that the intensity and feelings diluted oflate. I hope to improve upon it, wish me luck! :-)
Chanced upon the fact that today was Tyagaraja Aradhana and a telgu channel was giving the live coverage of the event. Relished the lovely songs sung in chorus. The sad part was that the channel cut off the song midway with no explanation, and turned to broadcasting some ads since it was 10AM and time to end the show! Thankfully a different tamil channel was still broadcasting it till the end (which was just another 5 minutes more!)
The afternoon went in getting intensely excited over the australian tennis men's finals amd thanks to a close pal to have made the match watching an amazing time.
Evening a little pizza and home food. That wraps the Sunday for me.
What gave me happiness was the fact that it was a nice chilled day and not the hassel of malls and traffic and all the mess! It was indeed a weekend to just relax and rejuvinate! Tingling with the nostalgia of the era thats gone by, Bonne nuit, ladies n gentlemen.

Century!!

2008-01-02T02:45:00.000-08:00

This happens to be the 100th post on this blog! Congrats to me!!
Hip Hip Hurray!!

Time for some drinks ladies n gentlemen. Cheers, bring on the beers!!

History:
Well for all those who love wiki like me, herez a little something to read about:
Century!

Tare Zamin Par

2008-01-02T02:21:00.000-08:00

I loved the movie. I saw OSO, Sawariya, Chak De, Ajja Nachale, Jab We met and Tare Zamin Par; and TZP takes the crown.

A quick personal review sorted on my liking of the movies:

TZP - Amir has as always chosen a move which has character in it. Lovely movie, highlights a facet of the society that was never pondered upon, very touching and a must watch.

Ajja nachale - I love musicals and a musical without a hero! Well few with the charisma of Madhuri can pull it off. Beautiful songs and a must watch if you want to see Elegance and Beauty.

Jab we met - A cute movie, the typical romantic movie types with the villan and hero and all the drama. It's the usual stuff wrapped in an unusual and pleasing package.

Chak De - Highlights the typical Indian's laziness and self centered nature and indiscipline. How it's overcome by one man's efforts and acheivement etc etc. Ok movie for a watch but seriously makes we want to laugh when I come see the politics and hypocrisy at our offices and educational system and development projects.

Sawariya - Has a cute actor, nice set (which unfortunately never changes all along!) and a strip tease. Watch it once just for fun.

OSO - First half is a spoof of bollywood of 70s and the second half a spoof of a bollywood horror movie. Seriously, I don't like spoofs and this one just refuses to go down my throat. Makes me choke! Glad I didn't see it in the theater paying exorbitant prices!

Welcoming '08

2008-01-02T02:16:00.000-08:00

Im really looking forward to this year. I want to define myself in this year. A lot of things are on the plate. Hope to achieve most of the significant ones atleast. A peep at the desires of the year:

Develop fluency in French
Improve my harping skills on the violin
Define my space at home and see it blossom into a reflection of my mind
ORGANISE - because that is what I am most happy and content being, organised
Get more fit and learn cooking

All the best in making your dreams come true for '08. :-)

The year that was

2008-01-02T01:18:00.001-08:00

2007 - I love this year. It has seen me achieve a lot, seen me realise a few of my dreams from childhood. Here is a snap shot of the year that was.

1) I turned 25! A milestone of sorts in the Human life cycle. I have tried to explore various facets and passions and now I feel I am ready to settle down and make my choice of what I want to be. Atleast a rough feeling till I am 30. :-)
2) Career, since my Engineering days it had been big talk of protocol stack development. I had always wanted to work on a stack and I got a huge opportunity and 07 saw me analyse, design, code and test an entire stack. Today the entire stack is my babe, my brain child. I am extremely proud of this, for me a break this early to do so much and complete it with more than the assured quality is indeed a matter of pride.
3) Travel, I managed to see a bit of the outside world finally! My wish to see 5 countries by 25 came true. I love the exposure and I feel the growth it has given me is quite significant.
4) I finally saw a Pride march. In the country that was the first to be liberal and broad minded enough to make drugs, prostitution and same sex marriage all legal. It's a wonderful experience to see people being so open minded to accept differences and minorities and to take part in celebrating the diversity.
5) I did get a taste of love. For the first time I grew to love someone, in the way I define love. It is ambrosia. It was made sweeter since the other person responded to my feelings too. I don't know if '08 will see it through but I am glad for the experience. Makes my life fuller and merrier just to know that I have been there and done it. I hope we make it.
6) I managed to step into THE market. I have always found myself gaping at trying to understand finances, Income Tax and the stock market. I am still dazed but I have made a small start and I hope to learn over the months and years ahead.
7) I made 3 paintings that to me have a significant value. Each took me about a month or two of good dedicated effort and skill. They adorn the walls at home.
8) I saw a couple of really good movies, some good plays and read a couple of great books. Not as much as I would have loved to but it a number that I am fine with, to accept in a year's time.

There are a lot of small things also that have made my experience of '07 a "good year" in my books.

Some Favs in no particular order:
Movie: TareZaminPar, Apocalypto, A kannada movie the name I cannot recollect!
Book: To kill a mocking bird
Holiday: Amsterdam
Infrastructure: Munich
Song:
Food: Vadapav, sarso-ka-sang
Memories: Big Banyan Tree ride with M, First take off in a (BIG) Jet Plane, Days when I was woken up by M's pranks, Amsti Pride with R, Framing my first painting helped by Mom and C, Evening ride in lonavala, Driving in Mumbai late night
Wacky Moment: Forgetting my stuff outside and going through immigration at Munich, running back to fetch it 15 minutes before takeoff and almost missing the flight!

I want to speak to the design ENGINEER!

2007-12-18T22:00:00.000-08:00

During the rainy season I completely adore the sensibility and humanness of our ancestors, even more than normal. What triggers this? Well, the old Bajaj scooters ridden by a well covered grandpa. The back wheel has this bit of RUBBER FLAP COVERING over it that prevents the water from splashing on the person riding behind the scooter! I look at all the lovely expensive bikes and cars and that simple cheap piece of rubber is missing or it's so high up that it has no use. Result: The street muck is on the poor soul's FACE! How can designers become so pathetic! Why can't people get some sense! To make the matters work those car people who zip across water filled potholes! I mean, excuse me, you are supposed to be so well EDUCATED that you can own a freaking car! Is this what they education is supposed to do to a person?

day well spent

2007-12-14T23:56:00.000-08:00

Today, was declared a working Saturday at work. I am in absolutely no mood to work. I was browsing through the butterflies section of the INW webpage and I was so happy to see a good 10 odd species of butterflies that visit my garden. Been reading a bit more about them and the naming and the slight differences in the subspecies etc etc. Been a very informative day and my favorite one is the Mottled Emigrant closely followed by Common Mormon and Lime. Good, I feel a bit more educated today!

what is going on?

2007-12-05T00:59:00.001-08:00

It's really really really crazy! The political game I mean. Just 2 days back I see this crazy wacko guy screaming away on TV saying all the development work is stopped and that we need elections soon and all that crap. Well, as I was riding to work in peak hour today I noticed that traffic has been smoother and easy going since yesterday. The reason, the pothole filled KH road was freshly tarred! All in a matter of 2 days; make that nights. The guys have been sensible and have tarred the road at night when the traffic is almost non-existent rather than the previous time when they did it blocking the road during peak timings! This road for the past 1 year has been so horrible! I really am starting to like the president's rule...atleast road-wise. Most of the big roads' potholes are filled now and there seems to be someone looking at making this place get back to shape! Seems like the infrastructure follows the leaders in being in shape or out of shape! :-)

I do sometime get annoyed with democracy, with the power game and money mindedness we really lack someone who cares for IMPROVING and DEVELOPING and SUSTAINING the city/state.

Herbs and spice

2007-12-05T00:13:00.001-08:00

I have been hearing about this restaurant in Indiranagar for quite some time and finally I managed to go there yesterday evening. It's a very nice cozy place tucked away in a discreet corner of Indiranagar. The food is simply yummy! The lasagna was actually looking like one, layered and all. Quite nice but for the spice overloaded tongues, the food might be a bit bland. The place is a frequently visited for the regulars and the owner knows the tastes of the regulars aswell. Most drop in for the desserts (which are just delicious!). Try the meringue, they are super light and super tasty!

In all a nice place to go with someone special and the owners are really sweet. The food is served quick too! ++ for that and the good service.

The best road award goes to!!

2007-12-03T09:41:00.000-08:00

Ladies and Gentlemen, put your hands together, to congragulate, and to PROTECT and SAVE this marvelous road! Our own Nanda road! The other day I was passing by MG road and was confounded by a shocking void! The trees, they are gone! It looks so bare, lifeless... lets do something, lets save Nanda road from such a disaster! Come on people! lets not give up our source of pride and inspiration!

Green, Life, Soul...

Inspiration, Creativity, Peace...

Humans, Greed, Destruction!?

"WAS the garden city"

"WAS a pensioner's paradise"

"WAS pollution free and calm"

kadlekai parshe - groundnuts fair!

2007-12-03T09:21:00.000-08:00

Yes! This monday was a south bangalore festival, the kadlekai parshe. Tonnes of groundnut are sold on the streets of good old Basavangudi. This has been a tradition of many years now. It - similar to other things in India - has a story tagging along too. Basavangudi gets it's name from the big Basava (Bull) that was tormenting this place. Known for it's groundnut fields this region was frequented by a bull which the locals one day captured and pegged down. This bull also happened to be shiva's means of transport and hence they build a temple to pay respects to the lord and thats how the bull temple came to exist. Every year on the last monday of karthika masa (ref. hindu calender) there is a fair held here and the local produce, mainly groundnuts are sold. This has now extended to puffed rice, some sweets like bendu batthas and various other toys and household articles by the local crafts people. It draws huge crowds, is really dirt cheap and, has a totally - oh so banglorean - feel to it. :-)

As usual, there were tonnes of food stalls and hardly any dustbins around! We never loved being clean, right?

Save money, one bit when you can!

COtton canDy!! Yummy!!

Groundnuts!! how much can you eat?

funny thoughts...

2007-11-30T03:42:00.001-08:00

If love is blind, how can we believe in love at first sight?

If you accidentally ate your own tongue, what would it taste like?

Do sore thumbs really stick out?

Why is it when your almost dead your on deaths doorstep, but when your actually dead your not in deaths house?

Why do we scrub Down and wash Up?

What’s the opposite of opposite?

If Practice makes perfect, and nobody’s perfect, then why practice?

Why are toe nail clippers bigger than finger nail clippers when your toe nails are smaller than your finger nails?

Is the opposite of “out of whack” “in whack”

If you try to fail and succeed, what did you just do?

Why does Goofy stand erect while Pluto remains on all fours? They’re both dogs!

On the periodic table, why do some elements have symbols with letters that aren’t even in the word?

Why do birds not fall out of trees when they sleep?

Why do they call it “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” when they know the answer is going to be everyone?

Why does Bugs bunny walk around the cartoon naked, but puts a bathing suit on when he goes swimming?

If a terminator is someone who kills, shouldn’t an exterminator be the opposite?

How many people do you need to consider it a mass suicide/murder?

If a robber tried to rob a dance club and yelled, “Everybody get down”, would all the people start dancing?

Why is a woman in a suit a “business person” but a man in a dress is a “transvestite”?

When pigs fart, does it smell like bacon?

Was Dawson Named After The Creek or Was The Creek Named After Dawson?

Could a tanning bed kill a vampire? If not would they get a tan?

How long is it until your relationship is considered a long-term relationship?

IF MONEY DOES NOT GROW ON TREES, WHY DO BANKS HAVE BRANCHES?
If you cut off a glowworm’s tail would it be delighted?
How do you know which armrest is yours in the movie theaters?
If you say something is indescribable, isn’t that describing it?
Do Dutch people always split the bill?
Can you sleep forever without being in coma?
Why is it called butterfingers when there is no butter or fingers in it?
If you shine a light into a mirror, do you get twice as much light?
How come it was called the Cosby Show when Billy Cosby’s character was named Heathcliff Huxtible?
If a Truck is loaded with Helium, would it weigh less than when it was empty? Wouldn’t it get better fuel mileage?
Why is the blackboard green?
Why do they call it a black light when it’s really purple?
Why do hotdogs come in packs of 8 when hotdog rolls come in packs of 10?
What do you call male ballerinas?
How come the sun makes your skin darker but your hair lighter?
If you dig a tunnel straight through the earth, will you come out with your feet first?
Why are pennies bigger than dimes?
Did they have antiques in the olden days?
Are zebras black with white stripes, or white with black stripes?
If Pringles are “so good that once you pop, you can’t stop” why do they come with a resealable lid?
Is a sleeping bag a nap sack?
What came first, the fruit or the color orange?
Where does the white go when the snow melts?
Can blind people see their dreams?
If there’s an exception to every rule, is there an exception to that rule?
Why do you click on start to exit Microsoft Windows?
Have you ever wondered why Trix are only for kids?
Why doesn’t Tarzan have a beard?
Why do most cars have speedometers that go up to at least 130 when you legally can’t go that fast on any road?
Why do they call it “getting your dog fixed” if afterwards it doesn’t work anymore?
If Wile Coyote had enough money for all that Acme crap, why didn’t he just buy dinner?
If masochists like to torture themselves, wouldn’t they do it best by not torturing themselves? and if so, aren’t we all masochist?
why is it called lipstick when it always comes off?
If when people freak out they are said to be “having a cow”, when cows freak out are they said to be “having a person?”
Aren’t you tired of people asking you rhetorical questions and you don’t know if they are rhetorical questions or not?
Why is a person that handles your money called a BROKER?
Why do we leave expensive cars in the driveway, when we keep worthless junk in the garage?
why do they have handicap parking spaces in front of they skating rings?
What happens if someone loses a lost and found box?
Why do they call it taking a dump? Shouldn’t it be leaving a dump?
What if the hokey-pokey really is what it’s all about?
Where in the nursery rhyme does it say humpty dumpty is an egg?
If quizzes are quizzical then what are tests?
Why do they sterilize needles for lethal injections?
Why do banks leave the door wide open but the pens chained to the counter?
What would happen if an Irresistible Force met an Immovable Object?
What’s the difference between a wise man and a wise guy?
If Americans throw rice at weddings, do the Chinese throw hamburgers?
how can you chop down a tree and then chop it up?
How can you hear yourself think?
If corn oil is made from corn, and vegetable oil is made from vegetables, then what is baby oil made from?

How does Santa get into a house that doesn’t have a chimney?
If you get cheated by the better business bureau, who do you complain to?
If you’re in hell, and are mad at someone, where do you tell them to go?
What would Geronimo say if he jumped out of an airplane?
What would Cheese say if they got their picture taken?
why are turds pinched off at the end?
I know you can be overwhelmed, and I know you can be underwhelmed, but can you just be whelmed?
If Barbie is so popular, then why do you have to buy her friends?
Why does Donald Duck wear a towel when he comes out of the shower, when he doesn’t usually wear any pants?
If you take an oriental person and spin him around a few times, does he become disoriented?
How come overtones and undertones are the same thing?
What would you use to dilute water?
What should one call a male ladybird?
How can military troops be deployed if they have never been ployed to begin with?
If you lived in Siberia and you wronged the Russians government, where would they send you?
Why do they call it an asteroid when its outside the hemisphere but call it a hemorrhoid when its in your ass?
If a cow laughed real hard, would milk come out her nose?
Before they invented drawing boards, what did they go back to?
Aren’t all generalizations false?
Can atheists get insurance for acts of God?
Do you need a silencer if you are going to shoot a mime?
Can I get arrested for running into a Fire House yelling Movie! Movie!?
Can you be a closet claustrophobic?
Could someone ever get addicted to counseling?
If so, how could you treat them?
Did Adam and Eve have navels?

Why is it that whenever you sing to the radio, your voice is higher? Even when you have a low voice?
Why is most lunchmeat bigger than the bread?
Is there a certain temperature at which it stops being qualified as cold? At what temperature does it qualify as hot?
If you were a pastor, and you were getting married, would you hire a pastor, or would you do the wedding yourself?
Why is Joey short for Joe, when Joey has more letters?
Can someone have their head in the clouds and be down-to-earth at the same time?
If a person suffered from amnesia and then was cured would they remember
that they forgot?
If you died with braces on would they take them off?
Why do mattresses have designs on them when they’re always covered with sheets?
Why do they call them “apartments” when they are all stuck together?
Why do they put Braille dots on the keypad of the drive-up ATM?
Why do they report power outages on TV?
Why do they sell a pound cake that only weighs 12 ounces?
Why do ‘tug’boats push their barges?
Why do we drive on parkways and park on driveways?
Why do we have hot water heaters?

Why do we put suits in a garment bag and garments in a suitcase?
Why do we sing ‘Take me out to the ball game’, when we are already there?
Why do we wash bath towels? Aren’t we clean when we use them?
Why does “slow down” and “slow up” mean the same thing?
Why does an alarm clock “go off” when it begins ringing?
Why does flammable and inflammable mean the same thing?
Why doesn’t “onomatopoeia” sound like what it is?
Why don’t you ever hear about gruntled employees?
Why don’t you ever see baby pigeons?
Why is a person who plays the piano called a pianist, but a person who drives a race car not called a racist?
Why is a women’s prison called a penal colony?
Why is it called a “building” when it is already built?
Why is it called a TV “set” when you only get one?
Why is it called ‘after dark’, when it is really after light?
Why is it so hard to remember how to spell MNEMONIC?
Why is it that when you’re driving and looking for an address, you turn down the volume on the radio? Why is it when a door is open it’s ajar, but when a jar is open it’s not adoor?
Why is the alphabet in that order?
Is it because of that song?
Why is the word “abbreviate” so long?
Why isn’t there mouse-flavored cat food?
Would a fly without wings be called a walk?
You know how most packages say “Open here”. What is the protocol if the package says, “Open somewhere else”?
Can fat people go skinny-dipping?
After eating, do amphibians have to wait an hour before getting out of the water?
What is another word for “thesaurus”?
What is the speed of dark?
What part of the monkey do you use a monkey wrench on?
What should you do when you see an endangered animal that is eating an endangered plant?
What’s another word for synonym?
When blind people go to the bathroom, how do they know when they are done wiping their butt?
When people lose weight, where does it go?
When sign makers go on strike, is anything written on their signs?
When vultures are on their deathbed, are they ever tempted to eat themselves?
When you open a bag of cotton balls, is the top one meant to be thrown away?
When your pet bird sees you reading the newspaper, does he wonder why you’re just sitting there, staring at carpeting?
When you’re sending someone styrofoam, what do you pack it in?
Why are there never any artist’s materials in a drawing room?
Why are there flotation devices under plane seats instead of parachutes?

same mistakes again and again

2007-11-19T08:45:00.000-08:00

In Mythological stories, it was the demons who would do penence and ask a boon of the gods. However there would be catch to it and that would lead to the killing of the demon. Similarly, our recent ex-CM changed his spelling to become CM and he did become; however, he forgot to ask for how long the would be CM! Poor guy.

It was quite interesting to hear him rattle on in an interview on uplifing villagers, lower castes...blah blah blah. I would really have liked to hear him say, "I will improve the roads all over the state, which is in a sorry state! I will clean up the cities and make it cleaner and more streamlined for growth! I will make k'nataka the first state to get ride of caste bias and try and make us one strong united lot!" Nope, unfortunately, we Indians hate each other so much, we will always be expoited by others. This is just my opinion looking at the entire population as a whole rather than just a few educated individuals.

within the grills

2007-10-27T08:29:00.000-07:00

Today morning found this pair of beauties on the grill work at home...

And in the evening, found these guys fluttering all around the garden lamp. They however stink and are quite noisy! I have heard from my granny that it used to me an evening snack - ground nuts replacement - for some people in her village. Humans, they eat anything, really!

Dussera and Dolls

2007-10-19T10:32:00.000-07:00

Dussera is one of my favourite times of the year. The loads of concerts to attend, the well decked up Sringeri Matt, Rama temple and the nine day celebration and feast! How I wish it's a 10 day holiday even for work!

Another tradition is to arrange the dolls at home in steps. This time I managed to keep only 1 step.

However, my collection of elephants is growing and hopefully I will have a dedicated step just for these magnificient animals!

Other than that, I managed to get a very cute Benne-Krishna for the cradle that I had painted and artificated (?is that a word?).

It's also a time when the vehicles are cleaned and worshipped along with various other tools that are used. So my comp also got worshipped (please continue to work without problems!)

Monday morning movies!

2007-10-15T09:32:00.000-07:00

Today morning my teammate decided to give us her promotion treat. We all headed to the movie Laaga Chunari Mein Daag - Journey Of A Woman. It's AMAZING. Yes, the end was predictable, but then, the acting of Rani and Hema was superb. It brought out the raw emotions so wonderfully. Brilliantly thoughtful with a lovely ending to leave us happy yet thoughtful, of life, of society, relations, and ... of what we consider "values".

It's painful to see on film, the wild hypocritical statements we make as humans - the intelligent beings. And whats worse, is that we condemn the acts seeing them on screen, but continue to be narrow minded in reality.

ground water wastage

2007-10-15T09:30:00.000-07:00

Most people in the city, in the well planned layouts never realise the value of water. Specially those who are a little well off. With the wonderful borewell technology and pumpsets doing the work we never bother to put a check on the amount of water we waste down the drain. What is the use of technology if one cannot get basic needs to his fellow humans? It is just so topsy turvy, the ideas and inventions.

There is a girl's hostel opposite my house. It houses maybe about 15 - 20 people in all. The water pump is perpetually on, and to make matters worse it is really really LOUD. Half hour in every hour of my stay at home goes in listening to this water getting pumped up. It just does not stop till 11 in the night! Communications fails with these people. I guess it will make more sense when the multiple floors of the building comes crashing down to be engulfed by mother earth. It's surprising to note that all the girls are students of science! Purpose of education, is to make money at all expense - I guess.

May be I should print the dying dehydrated babies' pictures we get by mail and gift it to these water wasters to post next to the taps and pump switches. Next time they may, hopefully think twice before wasting.
May be this is what prevented our ancestors from finding efficient solutions, an understanding of the human mind's recklessness.

Melancholy

2007-10-04T06:05:00.000-07:00

Life…drifts away…without aim, without passion, without reason…
Work… financial security… better life…
It’s draining me…my energy is lost…and so are my friends…
Life…fades away as I do… drowning me…
A tiny voice asks… is it worth it… is it what you are looking for…

A hearty meal… it’s against my diet plan…
A lovely dress… it’s not a good brand…
A peaceful sleep… it’s only a day dream…
A wonderful career… it’s all a myth…

I am an achiever… I achieved nothing…
I am a looser… I lost my dreams…
My heart says… know who you are…
My brain says… how does it matter…

Life has lost its meaning…
Love has lost its passion…
Age has lost its maturity…
And Experience; its value…

home...

2007-08-28T01:09:00.000-07:00

This song just started playing on my ipod as I was working at office...reminded me of the recent 15 days long stay away from home...
The song is called home and singer is none other than my fav Michel Buble. :-)

Another summer day
Has come and gone away
In Paris and Rome
But I wanna go home
Mmmmmmmm

Maybe surrounded by
A million people I
Still feel all alone
I just wanna go home
Oh, I miss you, you know

And I’ve been keeping all the letters that I wrote to you
Each one a line or two
“I’m fine baby, how are you?”
Well I would send them but I know that it’s just not enough
My words were cold and flat
And you deserve more than that

Another aeroplane
Another sunny place
I’m lucky I know
But I wanna go home
Mmmm, I’ve got to go home

Let me go home
I’m just too far from where you are
I wanna come home

And I feel just like I’m living someone else’s life
It’s like I just stepped outside
When everything was going right
And I know just why you could not
Come along with me
'Cause this was not your dream
But you always believed in me

Another winter day has come
And gone away
In even Paris and Rome
And I wanna go home
Let me go home

And I’m surrounded by
A million people I
Still feel all alone
Oh, let me go home
Oh, I miss you, you know

Let me go home
I’ve had my run
Baby, I’m done
I gotta go home
Let me go home
It will all be all right
I’ll be home tonight
I’m coming back home

where every you go....

2007-06-29T02:26:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was one Crazy day. I called in sick (I sort of was…don’t recall the last time I took a leave…OMG! That’s bad… and my brains needed a break) and landed at PVR Cinemas at 9.30 in the morning! I had been drying to see a couple of movies for the past few weeks and finally I decided to do a movie triathlon. The last time I watched 3 movies back to back in a theater was waaaaaay back during my Engineering days.

I got tickets to Shrek 3 which was the first show of the day - 10.00-11.45. It is one hilarious movie. Everyone got to watch it at least once! Post movie a quick lunch break and a visit to the loo where the joke session continued.

The loo had small boards posted over it with trivia on various countries. My loo had Kenya and my friend's had Turkey. As we were joking about it a familiar ring tone...The Hutch ad's music. One of the few times the brain was so spontaneous and uncontrollable, the words were uttered even before realizing it "Where ever you go, our network follows". Hahahaha...The poor chap to whom the phone belonged must have wanted to be flushed down the drain in embarrassment.

We soon hurried out laughing to get to the next movie at 12.40 - Oceans 13. It is a little fast and the connections and story is not too obvious immediately. However, one good fast paced movie. The next movie was “The Queen”. It was scheduled to start at 2.50. Oceans 13 got over at 2.45! With barely 5 minutes for the next show, we ran from one theater to the other. The movie had not yet started so we rushed to relieve ourselves. (Tip: Don’t drink too much Coke!!) The theater was a shocker. It was literally empty! A littering of Old Victorian style Grannies - trying to pass off as Aunties - with the wag tail Husbands. (Don’t jump on me, that’s just my dramatic line). Sat through the movie, it’s a good movie but it lacked a certain character that would have defined such a tragedy - that of Queen’s dignity and mindset lost in media’s crappy pressure and that of the death of Princes Diana.
The movie got over at 5.30 and I was back home by 6. A fantastic day and a welcome (well deserved) break from the routine.

A dream fulfilled...

2007-06-05T08:53:00.000-07:00

A long long back, at my Big Mama's place (aunt's place per say) I had seen a wonderful portrait of a goddess. She was charismatic and had a more than divine aura. The goddess of knowledge and learning. Since then I had been wanting a similar portrait, as big and splendid as this one.

After many years, the goddess has blessed me with the skill to paint. I present this painting to her divine feet.

Pre-monsoons in Bangy Town

2007-05-27T09:16:00.000-07:00

Pre Monsoons in Bangalore started with a "oor habba" or festival of the town. The streets were lit up with colorful lights, the village/town goddesses were taken out on processions, a lot of folk music native to Karnataka blaring all day with prayers to the rain gods to shower their blessings.

Lo and behold! The gods did shower. The skies roared and lightning lit up the night sky. Every evening for the past couple of days has been a heavy down pour, banglore feels home again, the chill and the tingling sensation in the air, the temperatures hovering at an ideal 20 degrees or around and romance spreading it's effects on couples and lovers. I shall be good and cut out the traffic jams and over flowing sewers to retain the good feel and also, the part where I am rushing out of office to reach home before the gods decide to turn on the tap.

Today a few beauties were on display in my garden. Below is a snap shot of it. This is my favorite part of the year. Lots and lots of flowers all around and every where you look, it is colorful and vibrant! Again I am cutting out the poor souls not used to pollen in the air.

When Indians get westernized

2007-05-20T22:16:00.000-07:00

I really don't like to crib on my blog but then,
When the Indians get westernized, then they complain about everything that gets indianized!

A couple of things that I noticed in the past week:

1) We are rude to our own families and ultra polite and greatly helpful to acquaintances. I wonder why and how we can correct this, in the - supposed to be more enlightened - younger generation as well as in the -supposed to be more experienced - older generation

2) We are very happy to run to a forest and preserve the folk culture, it is our cultural heritage. Back home, anything and everything a Brahmin lifestyle suggests is a blunder and has to be treated with highest detest. This is how we preserving our culture.

3) An eclectic mix of French and Brazilian cooking results in delicious food where as anything getting indianized is distasteful. I am particularly pissed with the comments buy a silly fat NRI on one of the shows on Travel and Living. His remarks on the "Indianized Chinese food", on "The British gave us tea, and we indianized it", on the "stinking Masala chai" and the "road side thick distasteful tea" literally set my appetite for his blood on a boil.

4) We are more than happy to have no self respect and even happier to blame the Brits for it. After 50 or more years of Independence, it's gone from low self respect to almost none...

5) We live in the past most of the time. That's our excuse for our laziness. Like, India WAS a great country, we WERE a rich family during our grandfather’s time a century back, we HAD the greatest scholars and libraries of those times, we WERE thin like a stick a few years back.

The day we turned into Zebras

2007-05-20T20:48:00.000-07:00

This last Sunday, a friend and I randomly decided on going out on a moderately long ride. Totally random, we just took the bike and headed out on Mysore road, did not even check the fuel in the tank nor the cash in our wallets, no sunscreen, no riding jacket, nothing, just my bike and us.

We rode on Mysore road and took a deviation to reach the big banyan tree. The road is BADD! We decided to ride further on to Manchanabele, a small dam and a mini-bird watching paradise. Here the road gets WORSE. We managed to reach there a little before the sun started to get unbearable. After sitting at the waterside till the sun started to burn our skin (really brief period) we decided to head back and have breakfast. We did spot some very beautiful birds and the lack of a good camera was felt badly. Managed with my fone camera are some fotos below:

Some village boys more than happy to dance and pose, playing in the waters and splashing it all over.

The cute girl on the tree, completely camera shy and who refused to turn her face around.

The granny walking along the lone road, right out of the past century!

No justice to the view of Savandurga from this camera at all!

On the way back the bike conked! The engine suddenly started to rev at a high RPM even at idling! Tried the windows trick - switch off and switch on (computer engineers you see!), tried the good old way of shaking and starting but NOTHING! The thought of having to push it all the way back was quite scary. Manu called up his friend, a bike expert, to see if we could try and do a telefono-mechanics job. After an analysis he gave up and a service station was the only option. "But wait a minute; see if the choke is on". It was! Switching it off solved the problem! Glad it was not a real problem. We were back on the saddle, with a sigh of relief, and rode to the big banyan.

JUST FOR EMPHASIS:
If engine revs higher at idling, check the choke, might be ON!
If the headlight is on always, check the pass button might be jammed ON!

For details on Manchanabele see here.

The Big Banyan, tender coconut, some pictures, a little rest and decided to go to kamath lokaruchi for food. The fuel was almost in reserve but decided we can manage it and by the time we arrived there, we were running on reserves and so was the bike. Our tummies were begging for food. Jolada rotti was quite tasty @ LR and we guzzled down a few gallons of butter milk and washed our burning skin under the cool waters. I coaxed Manu to also try and make it to Kanva reservoir, with the confidence that the bike's reserves would be sufficient, and thankfully it was. But the site @ kanva was not as pleasant as it was last time. There was a lot of construction work and the road across the reservoir was closed.

By this time the heat had started to tire us. We took frequent breaks along the way back to the main road. I wish there were a few benches along the way. We briefly discussed on how our civilization, in India, had seen the peak and now is on it’s declining path. The era of Ashoka and the likes where the roads were lined by shading trees and enough rest houses on the way and now, there is not even a drop of water to quench the parched throat. It's just pollution and selfishness that abounds all around stifling the people's values just like the summers' heat.

We reached Mysore road and without much adu, I filled some fuel at the first fuel station we saw. We were already low on cash and there were no WORKING ATMs in any of the towns along the way. The heat must be getting to them too. I filled only a liter of fuel for the way back. I am so glad the bikes give good mileage.

Reached home tired, exhausted and tanned to at least 5 shades darker! My arms look very very funny, striped like a Zebra. No more summer time rides was the decision.

pay more, get less...new age principles

2007-05-11T00:49:00.000-07:00

Every time I get out of coffee day, I keep making a oath never to return to such a lousy place again and to stick around to good old banglore cafes.

Just for facts, herez the comparision:

note: Waiter is the guy at CCD and Server is our local hotel boy

1) The waiter comes up with a pad and pen and jots down the order. Still I get a cappachino instead of a latte. He takes orders from may be 4 tables for about 20 items.

The server takes orders from about 15 tables for about 50 different items with various variations and it almost never goes wrong!

2) The order is place, food never delivered, and the bill arrives. To make things worse, the waiter comes up and asks if I want anything ELSE!!

The server gets the food in almost a jiffy, asks if you need any thing else with it, enquires if its ok, makes small talk, literally treats you like a guest at home and then gives the bill. He is happy if you tip him or not, wishes you a good day regardless of the tip and make you want to come back to the place!

3) It takes half hour to make a coffee with all the latest gadgets and still it comes cold and very light! He never remembers you!

I get the coffee IMMEDIATELY, and with the desired variation. If you are a regular (visit 3 times) he even remembers your requirement!

street play

2007-05-09T21:21:00.000-07:00

Boys will be boys, despite starting to work and putting on lots of fat! This was what I realised as the guy next to me suddenly zoomed and made crazy turns and dips to overtake me. Pondering on, I realised that this sudden behaviour was triggered by a simple thing. A slight twist of the throttle...I had revd my engine high and the man thought I wanted to have a drag race on MG early morning in peak hour traffic! What a dim wit!

On a deeper analysis, I have done the ripping and crazy riding also. I have timed these trips to office and they are almost always the same, how ever much of rash riding I did! After a small accident, (need to clarify that I was riding very slowly!! bloody oil spills) I was riding slowly since braking was a bit of a difficulty and I had to use clutch control, I realise that it still took the same time to get to work with much less tension! Sorry to give you the typical good ending, yes I ride much less rashly these days, but ya once in a while I love the engine and the pillion screaming ;-)

Oh, I got a nice sticker to post on my bike, it says "Honk if you are Constipated". Hope the honking behind me gets lesser *keeping fingers crossed*.

a tribute to my collegues in a different country

2007-05-09T00:28:00.000-07:00

pong, dong, long, mong, tong...ong ang ong...

Ok thats literally the sounds that they make in the name of speaking english. Call me rasist or whatever, I dont care. Im fedup of trying to figure out what they are speaking!

Thoughts @ 4AM!

2007-03-07T20:24:00.000-08:00

I just can't sleep. There are so many things thats coming to my mind, so here I am, at 4AM typing them out for you. I have made streams of thoughts revolving around one core area but before that I have put down the conclusion questions for those who dont want to read the streams (I urge you to read it though, atleast that part that is you with respect to me)

I would like to ask:

1) Are we so scared or irresponsible that we don't want to protect and stand up for the very land that we live, earn, eat and drink from?

2) Are we really "The Indian Crab", who dont want all to progress together but are more keen on bringing down other's progress or being so selfish that only we want to progress? If yes, do we want to continue to be them despite knowing it?

3)Are rational thinking and human nature to adapt and accept, washed out from us, that the land we live in is not our's, but the land we left behind is always the one we protect?

4) Are we not able to see "IT" as a means of getting this Nation to be one strong county but we use it to make it more divided and make the divide stand out more starkly!

A reply to a different argument:

Situation is the Cauvery water dispute. A friend of mine, a tamil settled in Karnataka, asked, what if all the tamilians in Bangalore boycott offices - His complaint was about not getting tamil TV channels - and prove to the Government of their influence and presence.

My reply:
Boycott offices but go say "We too live in Karnataka, this is our home now, we use the water from here, this land's growth matters to us, justice to this place is our right, be just and come to a fair decision - to our land - the land that is sharing it's waters freely over so many decades. Give it something back for giving you the lifeline of precious water instead of just being more greedy". It's time for you all who live in this place, to call this place your home and stand up to protect it. Else, there might come a time when the water and money is all gone and just like the gardens are gone from the garden city, the people might too from the city...

The water from Karnataka gave Tamilnadu the lifeline, just like a mother's blood gave life to the child in the womb, like a friend's help revived a weak one. It's time the child and friend to grows up and becomes self sufficient, time to protect the Mother instead of just gnashing at the womb for more blood. Time to become a responsible child than to just become a arrogant mindless brat. (In my own personification.) Time to stop asking for more free help and instead get to be self reliant and repay with gratification.

The thought streams are here:

Stream1 - My Family:

At a function, 4 generations of the family - grandparents, parents, us and the next generation. There is a constant stream of talk, switching between kannada and Telgu effortlessly. In the 200 or so people about 3 grandparents and one entire sub-family (father, mother, children - a new addition to our family by marriage) can't speak Kannada. Most of us are good enough in Kannada to completely express ourselves - from screaming to sweet talking. Some have gone further and have studied this language with Masters and PhDs. Ofcorse, Telgu is not forgotten but happily intersperced in the conversation. It's an easy switchover, infact so easy, that till now we have not seen them as seperate languages, or that I am supposed to be partial to Telgu or Kannada. For us, both are mother tongues. Afterall, we live here and we use all this land's resources and that empowers us to say, THIS IS MY CULTURE TOO!

Stream2 - My Office:

At work we are a mixed crowd. There are Mallus, Tamils, Telgus, Northies and a couple of us Kannadigas. The outsiders plan to stay here for upwards of a decade atleast if not more. Strangely, only 1 person in that set is making a concious effort to inculcate this culture and calls bangalore her Home. It feels as if everyone else has an aversion to Karnataka and it's culture. It's looked upon almost as a criminal offence to absorb this culture. There are almost 70% outsiders in my team, they come here to bangalore, use all the infrastructure available and never once want to call it their place. Never once care to make a difference. They prefer to remain outsiders living inside. How can one expect to be accepted and united if such is the mindset? Whatever happened to the responsibility to the land that gives one the food he eats, the water that he drinks and the space to live in? Is this mind block fair? Human? Why blame someone when there is bias in one's own self?

Stream3 - My Friends:

I have friends who are kannadigas as well as those who have moved here for work. Those who have moved in have built houses here, have families here. Most also know the local language and culture. There are also those who are otherwise too. Those who isolate themselves behind the shut doors of their homes and tele-port back to "their" land from within their tele-visions. Those to whom it hardly matters what happens to the land they live in. They come out only to brashly point fingers at everyone else when something happes to their comforts but never to live with the locals. It pains that most of them are people who don't want to know about the local culture, who's families are not known to each other and they have not grown to become a tight bond but have remained - just friends. Gone are days of "aunty's coffee and snacks", "the parents' talks and gossips", "the sit at home, with the family and talk", I dont know their family and they dont know me; ofcorse the families don't knowing each other at all. Sometimes it's 'cause of language barrier, but more often it's a person's own barrier. Thanks to those few with whom I have bonded and not just remained friends.

couple of my fav songs's lyrics

2007-03-05T19:00:00.000-08:00

Just felt like sharing these with you.

Anyone To Love

Another night, another drink
Another time to contemplate and think
Will I ever, ever have anyone to love

It's not that I don't try
Maybe I try too hard
Seems like I'm living a lie
So there's a game I just won't learn
And I wonder will I always be alone
I take a sip and wonder
Why I haven't anyone to love

I guess I'll say goodnight
My drink's done and it's morning light
Sorry my friend but you see
What other ending could there be
And I wonder will I always be alone?
I take a drink and wonder
Will I ever have anyone to love?

Guess I'm Falling For You

When I look into your eyes
I see sunshine
The coulds are blown away
I hope you're here to stay
'Cause I've got me needing more of you
Guess I'm falling for you

You walk away
My eyes caress you
Then you turn and smile
You've caught me thinkin' of love with you
Guess I'm falling, I may be falling for you

Since I met you days are brighter
Life's uneven loads are lighter
When I hear you whisper the words I long to hear dear
Now I look into your eyes
I'm lost in knowing that you are all I want
My need for you is growing
Guess I'm falling, I think I'm falling for you
Think about falling for me too

Ive got a crush on you

How glad the many millions of annabelles and lillians
Would be to capture me
But you had such persistence, you wore down my resistance
I fell and it was swell

Im your big and brave and handsome romeo
How I won you I shall never never know
Its not that youre attractive
But, oh, my heart grew active
When you came into view

Ive got a crush on you, sweetie pie
All the day and night-time give me sigh
I never had the least notion that
I could fall with so much emotion

Could you coo, could you care
For a cunning cottage we could share
The world will pardon my mush
cause I have got a crush on you

Could you coo, could you care
For a cunning cottage
That we could share
The world will pardon my mush
cause I have got a crush, my baby, on you

married men!

2007-02-26T02:59:00.000-08:00

Ok now you can also go and cry and weep just like women! Infact, it might help you get rid of your annoying wifey :-)

Wanna know more?

pirates!

2007-02-25T21:33:00.000-08:00

Just when I thought Pirates were movie stuff I came across this:

Pirates seize UN ship off Somalia

Curious? click here!

Is there a jack sparrow there?

weekend with the teachers

2007-02-25T02:45:00.000-08:00

This weekend my sister had arranged a concert of sorts at her place. Among the people singing were my teacher and my teacher's teacher. It was quite an emotional moment since it's been quite sometime since I saw my teacher on stage. I was reminded of the first time I saw her sing, at a temple close to home, I was may be 10 then :-) and her voice, that deep sonorous voice of her's still makes me go crazy!

Grand meshtru(on the lines of grand parents)

My meshtru(teacher)

water woes

2007-02-13T02:36:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I was reading a nice book which happpens to illustrate some examples of thinking differently and working on facts and data.

Problem I decided to take up was the Cauvery water dispute. I have tried my best to be impartial in these statements.

Let us list the facts:
1. Cauvery finds most of it's water source in Karnataka in the form of rainfalls.
2. The rain fall here is so abundant that the water is enough for the south region of the state and a little more to spare.
3. The reason for good rainfall - abundant forest which have NOT been destroyed for cultivation.
4. Since the rain water falls in the state, it belongs to this state. So also because the forests are maintained in this state and the crazy infrastructure costs that come with such a terrain. If any one has seen Coorg and Mangalore, they will realise the expense of maintaining roads in these regions.
5. TN has a lot of cultivable land but they depend on Karnataka's rain and water instead of the eastern monsoon.

The argument is that Karnataka collects the water and release it for free to TN, Under the name of national resource and one nation argument. Fine, under this argument why does TN not give away a part of it's produce to Karnataka in return for supplying the water. Afterall we are one nation. This would most definitely not be acceptable. So the best solution is that TN buys water from Karnataka. Depending on the water availability this would be released to TN. It does not justify for one state to give away the MOST PRECIOUS comodity for free to some other state for free. One nation argument is more apt when people are concerned. The number of Tamilians living in Bangalore using this state's infrastructure is enormous and no body every questioned their living here. As Indians this is their right but when it comes to resources it sould be handled with impartiality. Not just for political reasons.

India and education

2007-02-12T21:23:00.000-08:00

"The statistics state that India annually produces some 4,500 doctorates as against 40,000 PhDs in China every year." - TOI.

Reading this in the times the first thing that came to my mind was Quota and the number of Institutions. Since 1960s the number of premier Institutions have remained the same, the seats are also the same number, the quotas have gone up like crazy. It would be nice to see a statistics on the number of PhDs Indians have got in the US.

The number of people in India has also gone up. Read: the number of Intelligent Smart capable people. Those are people who can not really afford to go to the US and get a PhD. Those numbers are steadily going up and our fantastic government/s is least bit bothered. Votes and vote bank politics is all that matters. Unless we all do something about it, one of the oldest and greatest civilizations on Earth will also become a fine example of having progressed, not forwards but backwards.

I applaud the way the Chinese have used their greatest asset - Human Population and converted their country into a bubbling economy with good infrastructure, good education and brought the country forward. I also appreciate the way they have made a place for themselve and preserved their culture than blindly adopting the West. However one thing that lacks in that country is freedom and once they get that, they will become invincible.

as THE week sets in...

2007-02-10T20:44:00.001-08:00

Last night out of the blues I remembered a song, Chal Chale and I downloaded it. The music started bringing with it a sweet stinging memory. The most well remembered moments around this song, the lush green Coorg, v driving in the jeep, the mist and the wet roads, and since then this song has been Chalu, Ive been playing it over and over again. One of those songs that just keep you wanting more.

On a thoughtful and innovative note, I am glad that flash drives and non-moving-parts-based storage was invented. The optic disk still gets ruined with repeted play back but the other has no wear and tear. Absolutely clear sound without the hum of the rotating disk. Im talking about my mobile and Ipod by the way. Im glad sony has a good sound quality, quite crystal clear I could say. Music systems should implement serial port based playback of files. That would really be the next step. May be even 2 ports, that assists in copying, reducing the dependancy on the computer for copying. Playing from phones, pods, and a host of other devices would become easier.

1957

2007-02-08T20:20:00.000-08:00

I wish I was not born in this bloody mess of a 21st century. I wish I had some courage to get up and do what I wish to, what my heart draws towards instead of being stuck in this stinking pot of IT. The only time I get to be me is the teary ride on my bike. Yes these days when I get on my bike, my pod is churning out the music of the Gods. Invariably a traffic signal happens to be the only time when I can hear my ipod. In those few moments I am moved and torn and elavated and all at the same time. This is too much for a small person like me and the tears just rollout. Today I was listening to this old copy of GNB and Chowdiah's concert.I wish I was born in their time, where making money was not so much of an issue, where IT was not the only employment, where going abroad was not the only ambition and life was lived all through and not just in the 20s and 30s, where education meant more than just MS/MBA. I wish this internal conflict ends soon and when I break out from my cocoon I am a beautiful butterful and not an ugly moth.

Kamadhenu kalpavruksha

2007-02-03T21:56:00.000-08:00

That's the name of my latest painting. Some snaps of it below below.

The entire painting

Border flowers

Kalpavruksha

Wings and Shawl

Pecock tail

Jewelery

odd man!

2007-02-02T21:29:00.001-08:00

Today I went to give my bike for servicing. To get back home I usually take a auto but today I just hopped on to a bus. This is the first time after almost 2 years I am taking a bus. There I was, dangling by one hand, the other holding the helmet and in a Bus. The looks I got, well, I felt like an outcast almost.As I was buying the 6rs ticket, I was thinking of my college days when I would take this bus, fight with the conductor that my pass was valid for this route, all for a 1 rupee bus ticket. I was also reminded of how thin I used to be and how much stronger when, halfway to home, my arms started to hurt like hell. May be I should take the bus more often, but then, that would mean more than 2 hours travelling...Ok plans ditched unless absolutely needed, but it's a far better and cheaper option compared to autos.

Music and Meaning

2007-01-31T21:22:00.000-08:00

Thanks to a great personality, I was intoroduced to one of the divine singers of this age, TM Krisshna. Since the day I heard him in a concert around newyear's, I have been dying for more. Yesterday a good friend and I were at Planet M and I picked up a CD of the man with the brass voice. Today was listeneing to it on my way to office. At the busy MG road traffic signal this fantastic voice is doing this neraval and in a moment, at the busy signal, my mood elavated. The joy became so profound that tears burst forth. What is it that makes me so happy? It's not words, but just the 7 swaras and the play with it. Or, may be it's just the flow. The ups and downs and the interlacing of it. There are a million things that carnatic music holds in itself. What would be life without music...beautiful but then lacking in beauty.

More on TMKrishna

Random thoughts from a single origin

2007-01-29T04:11:00.000-08:00

Love is like sand in hand, hold it too loose and it flies away, squeeze it too hard and it slips away.

Expectation - Translitereation from kannada: If it does not bend as a sapling, will it bend as a tree.

Nip it in the bud - even if you hope it might bloom into a flower - if the bud wants to rush to become a flower, wants all the attention, a bud that is weak or does not understand that there are other buds in the plant but sucks all the sap away.

One bad stands out despire a hundred good.

Sunsets

2007-01-28T08:22:00.000-08:00

I work on one of the tall buildings in the city. I am on the 10th floor and the pantry overlooks the Southern side of the city. There is nothing that obstructs my view. The sunsets are the best thing here. See some shots I took on my phone. I pray to god, next time make me an Eagle.

Sunsetting

Sunset

Manfredi Triathlon

2007-01-28T08:06:00.001-08:00

This month has seen me devouring 3 fantastic books. All by the Italian writer, Valerio Massimo Manfredi. The titles:
Empire of Dragons
The Oracle
The Talisman of Troy

He is a fantastic writer who is a master at interleaving history and fiction. All the books are very good but the best was Empire of the Dragon. It has a good blend of war, struggle to survive, for power, of deceit and valor, ego and it's breaking, travel, history and fable.

My next on must read by Manfredi:
Last Legion
Alexander collection

Please note, I am accepting gifts, in case someone is feeling like you know what to get me :-)

More on Manfredi

cast in sugar

2007-01-28T07:51:00.001-08:00

India, Tradition, Classical, Customs, Festival, Festive food, Festival Preparations, these are words that ignite a sort of passion in me. Somehow, I feel we are a lost generation. We are neither Indians nor Westerners, we try to ape the westerners and we succeed in being apes. I don’t even see the point of trying to become like them when they are so not ready to accept us even as humans, let alone as "them". Why do we want to become part of the hypocrisy? The worst is the kind of outlook we have towards our own language and customs and the "not so well off as us" people. Why do we want to spit at ourselves? The worst thing in the world is internal conflict of a man against himself and accepting to be degraded. I see a lot of people from my own generation going through it. The internal conflict is how they identify themselves as, in reality they are Indians but are supposed to be western in behavior. We can see clearly that being modern is not all about drinking and partying but in making our nation strong, getting our infrastructure right, getting back to being a developed country. It is sickening to be called cheap labor, to be thrown tit-bits, leftovers and rotten junk and being told that we are the IT capital. This is against what we read in our history, what we see in our grandparents and we are left lost. There is absolutely no respect for the generation, from the elders nor from peers. Everyone knows we are doing nothing great and in such a case where does the respect come from? The money is there, but the respect and dignity, it's just not there. Sometimes I hate our previous generation, for not being the kind who taught us to care for our own values, for wavering and loosing identity and many other reasons the top of which is the desire for money in dollars and for respecting dollars and not humans.

These were random musings as I was making the cast sugar sweets for the harvest festival. We are like the sugar casts, tasty and sweet but not strong, who melt away easily and loose our identity but then essential for flavor.

Memory down tea-lane

2007-01-27T22:49:00.000-08:00

Not too long back, everyday evening I used to have friends over at home. It was not the posh - get slosh kind of crowd but just the boy next door, level headed bram-boy, kind of friends. I would make tea, we would sit at the steps of the front door overlooking into the garden and talk. Anything, right from academics to music to sex. We would spend a hour or so together and they would get back home. It was such a filling experience. Since work started this custom has stopped. Everyone is now grownup, all are busy, and the void is growing bigger in the heart. I wonder why at office colleagues remain acquaintances and never become friends.

mango season's here!

2007-01-27T20:41:00.001-08:00

:-) Can't wait to have the mango flower chutney, tender mango pickles, raw mangos with salt and chilli power not to forget the juicy mangos.

The trigger was this tiny mango fallen from my tree:

by the way, that's natural sunlight streaming from between the tree :-)

This is a look at my tree:

Hats off!

2007-01-27T20:21:00.000-08:00

He is a Perfectionist. In play, in life, in talk and whereever else. He is as precise as a swiss watch and handles all kinds of tennis styles with ease, just like a swiss knife. He is calm on the outside like a lull before the storm and charged up like a raging storm inside. It's beyond pleasure watching him play. Roger, you rock man! Hats off to you!

Misty Mornings

2007-01-27T20:09:00.000-08:00

Finally I managed to get out of bed early in the morning today! I went to my favourite place, lalbag and as I was jogging around the lake, I heard the familiar quack quack of my ducks! A sort of welcome call to me. The misty air was running through my hair, leaving a tingling sensation as it caressed my body and soul. I reached the far corner of the lake and as I turned the pre-dawn scattered a scarlet red across the sky and a shimmering reflection in the water. The mist laiden trees dividing the Heaven from Earth and as I watched this colour play my mind streached across the boundary and united with nature. I then jogged on and as I completed another 2 rounds, the sun peeked from behind the palms.

I usually get to savour the lovely sunset across the city's skyline and as I was watched this splendid sunrise mirrored in the lake my joy was magnified two folds. Louis armstrong with that husky raw voice was the apt choice for today's jog. (remembered a moment with my ex, he got me the pod last year around this time). As the divine morning turned towards a normal day, I headed back to a mist kissed bike.

Invasion time and again

2007-01-16T21:19:00.000-08:00

Somehow I have come to the conclusion that India has been and will be one of the richest and most sought after country in the world. Time and again outsider come here, make money, put Indians down and get lost leaving behind bad taste and memories.
It all started with the muslims invading this place a few centuries ago, looting it, polluting it and now living in it but not loving it.
Then came the Brits and the other colour changing skins from Europe (not sure why call them white when they turn red, blue and green depending on their mood). Again it was the same loot, pollute and abuse story.
Finally we got independence and got branded as a country with people to use as slaves for the so called developed but immature minded nations. The same pre-independace story in a different form, Some select people were taken to the developed countries to make it more rich, the others were used as "skilled labour" for the fast growing IT Industries's crappy clean up and maintainence work that no one enjoyed doing. If maintenance is "GOOOD" work then why do we look down upon people tending to gardens and buildings and look up at architects and landscape designers with awe? The same shit applies to IT. Now the developed countires are given "warning" that developing nations are become developed! (see this) Scared hyprocrits that they are, don't even have the courage to accept that other nations can be developed too and they have the balls to talk of world peace and growth (may be they forgot to put a note that they are talkin of their world and not Earth).
Next comes the invasion into our own country for all the Travel stories they want to make. I don't mind them making a travel show. As travellers they show a different prespective but as long as they are un-biased and openminded its fine. Ofcorse, they expect to see Europe/US in asia, which is very absurd but then again can't expect much out of narrow minded travel guides. What I really am against is why the hell do some non-indian person have to tell the world about Indian culture and cooking? Recently I was watching this chinese cooking show and the chinese woman settled elsewhere was making these chinese dishes and in between she was praising the Chinese and China's culture. On the other hand there was this other show in which some horrible firang who does not know the name of the spices used also was trying to cook some Indian food and half the time he was complaining on how spicy and fattening and what not Indian food was. Then why the bloody ***K was he making a living cooking Indian food! The same thing happened another time where they were showing Durga pooja preparation and the moron acting as the host goes about saying "The gaudy colors that Indians seem to love so much". I am shocked to see such sick comments from people who are used to "neutral" statements and of "mild" nature. Then there was this praise of Calcutta as India's literary capital and I confused. I mean, there are so many languages in India and there can never be one single place for our Country when it comes to cultural/lirerary superiority. Why can't people frame correct sentences that give out the complete facts. These are what make our country different and special and how can a Firang even be expected to understand this when most of the Indians dont! This happens time and again and it's time we raise our heads and stand for our dignity; than letting the Firangs screw us and our dignity. It's time the channels/producers recruit some "proper" people from India for shows based in India.

p.s: This is just a verbalisation of reaction to some events on TV and is not meant to hurt sentiments of anyone on EARTH.

Xmas!!

2007-01-13T08:57:00.000-08:00

Ok I know this post is a little delayed but then I got the pictures only now!!

For this last christmas, I joined with a few of my friends and with a lot of help (concepts including making us practice, getting the songs and tunes) from my teacher Ivy Thomas, we made a small choir. Here are a few snaps from that party. It was one jolly good party and we sung carols in German, English, Spanish and even Japanese!

Oh ya the Santa gave me a gift too and there was free cake and coke from the maxmuller cafe.

THats me with SAntA...

Thats my instructor in the shawl. One energetic person with a fab voice!

THe entire bunch Zinging :-)

About bikes and technicalities

2007-01-10T08:09:00.000-08:00

I was generally musing about how the reserve fuel thing works on my bike. I know it's just 2 intake pipes at different heights and all that but still I wanted to google it and see what comes up. I found this really nice site that has some pretty neat stuff!

The main article

The valve used to control the intake is called petcock. (don't get ideas here! funny name I know!). Click petcock to findout more.

Also, I found out why excatly I crashed into the hill last time when getting down at a bit of a high speed. Pretty nice article. Didn't know the concept of countersteering, now that I know, I shall practice it and get my reflexes used to this. The link to counter steering is here

Ok before you start making comment, yes I have had my bike for 2 years now and yes I am paying more attention to knowing it's working only now. Better late than never! :-)

At devarayana durga.

2007-01-07T22:51:00.000-08:00

This Sunday, I and a friend of mine decided we would go to devarayanadurga, a hill top fort on Banglore Tumkur highway. It was a lovely ride, but could not stay till sunset as I had to get back to Banglore by evening. I could not find much details of the route on the web so, here it is:
There are 2 routes to this place.
1) From banglore, go till Dobaspet. Go under the flyover and take a right. The left leads to Shivagange betta and right leads to Devarayandurga. There are 2 roads on the right, take the one that is diagonal to tumkur road and not the one perpendicular. Better to ask one of the villagers if confused. :-). This road is in quite bad shape and it's a longer approach to DDurga. On this route you get DDurga first, and then as you go towards Kyatsandra, you get another Hanuman and Shankara temple, a little further is Namada Chilume and then Siddaganga mutt (different from Siddagange betta) and a KM from there is Kyatsandra where you hit Blr-Tumkur road.
2) The other route, as you might have guessed it, is to get in from Kyatsandra side. Ride about 5 kms from Dobespet on Tumkur road and you will reach this intersection. From there, Blr->on Tumkur road, a bit after reliance A1 take the right at Kyatsandra->Siddaganga Mutt->NamadaChilume->Hanuman Temple->DDurga. The roads on this side are much better and I feel this route is shorter and faster.

Fact File:
1) For food pick any of the resturants on Tumkur road starting from Kamath to Reliance A1 but I liked the good old pavitra hotel at Kyatsandra the best :-)
2)Food is not availabe at DDurga, so better fill up before you get there. You can carry it too but then beware of monkeys. You however get tender coconut and the like.
2) Namada Chilume has a small heard of deer in an enclosure and a spring (ok water DRIPS only) from a boulder.
3) Hanuman temple - no idea how this is. Didn't go there.
4) DDurga has 2 temples, BhogaNarishma which is at the base of the hill and YogaNarsimha which is on top of the hill.
5) Road goes almost to the temple on the top. But to reach the temple you got to climb about 50 odd steps.
6) There is a small stone structure further from the temple, on a large boulder that can be reached from a steep climb through (kinda) caves and paths taken over by forest. The view from up here is worth the climb :-)
7) All these places are very cleanly kept and there are enough dustbins. Please use them and help keep our country clean instead of praising other countries. It's our responsibility! We are afterall a race that are more cultured and learned than them.

Happpy travelling!

Some Snaps below

The serpentine roads:

The temple from the top:

The fortress:

My Love:

Me!! On top of the world!! (ok top of the hill)

more here

a week with music

2007-01-07T22:50:00.000-08:00

The new year started off with me relishing a wonderful concert and the entire week continued with that same elavating experience. The past one week I have met, spoke to and seen upclose and personally some of the most well known people in the field of carnatic classical music. I also went through some prominent changes in this last week.

The most important was in the way I appreciated carnatic music. Sitting amongst well versed students of a very great singer, cuddled up with a special frnd, getting to know the different aspects of the concert, has added a diffent dimension to my feeling and enjoing carnatic music.

I started to look at todi raga in a different sense, rather was show to see it in a different way; for me it was always a sober raga but Ravikiran painted an altogether different picture on his gotuvadyam. I got introduced to a superb singer, TM Krishna, a man with a voice that scales 3 octaves with ease, with a ring in it as clear and strong as a brass bell, whose knowledge and creativity in music is so good that people have modified songs which praise the lord krishna and they sing it in praise of TM Krishna! I also got to speak to and take the blessings of Kanyakumari, the first one to get on to my list of favourite violinists. It was a night that I shall remember, I still shiver just thinking about it. She is one of the most sweetest and charming lady I have met.

I also got to see a yaga and yagna for the ragas. It was a very pleasent and new experience for me to see scores of people singing in unison; and then later on all of them got to have lunch and leave. It was close to 3000 people! I have never been to a tyagaraja aradhana but this is how it would be I think, a goosebumpy and thrilling experience!

I was also enlightened on the fact that the richness of Mysore's artful people has not yet been completely wiped off. After watching the divine brothers, Mysore Nagaraj and Dr.Manjunath, I am glad to say all the great musicians are all not in Tamilnadu :-), we still have some left in mysore who can lift you to heaven. They brought so much of emotion into the music that I was moved to tears, once in an alap and again in one of the "neravals". As RKP sir said, this is a concert unforgettable for ten years, but to me it will be unforgettable for life, the day I got the first glimpse of these 2 gods on stage. They right now top the list of my fav violinists.

The last day was a different program, a dance drama presentation of the story of Vadiraja. it was simple but very tasteful and creatively done. It was a special program in more than one way for me but we wont go there here. It shall suffice to say, I was overjoyed watching it all.

This is one week where I got to meet legends that are and legends that are going to be, where I made a few new friends and have had a week filled with happyness every single day!

A fab xmas weekend

2006-12-25T21:52:00.000-08:00

Weekend was butt achingly fantastic!!! Me and a friend of mine decided to go out biking for 3 days. Did some 650 odd kilometers in 3 days which included a stupid accident with the side of the road, where my bike got badly damaged but thankfully we both escaped almost un-scrached. Now the repairs is gonna cost me a bomb and I dont even have insurance!! But all in all it was simply fantastic. Places visited:

Day1:
Banglore->Ramnagar->Maddur->Shivanasamudra (Bluff falls for ye english lot)->Talkad (Awesome beachy looking place)->T-Narispura (Sangam of 3 rivers)->Mysore
stayed at mysore after a nice 270Km ride of which 100kms was just mud road!

Day2:
Mysore->Nanjangudu->Gundulpet->Bandipur(missed taking a turn to our actual destination)->Gundulpet(had to ride back about 15 KM of bad roads)->Gopalswami Betta(Wanted to see elephants but missed it)->Gundulpet->Nanjangud->Mysore
In total about 200Kms mostly good roads. Left early morning and reached the misty hills while it was still misty :-) so returned back home by afternoon. Hogged on good lunch and took a nap. Evening went to chamudi hills. In total abot 220 or so kms of riding.
The stupid accident was here on the chamundi hills!

Day3:
Mysore->Srirangapatnam->Cauvery Sangam (Cauvery splits into 2 before Srirangapatna and merges after it)->Srirangapatna->CoffeeDay on mysore Road->Banglore
Did not want to rip at 100KMPH as I usually do 'cause I was not sure how the bike was doing after accident. So came at a horrible snail's pace of 60KMPH! I dont ride so slow even in the CITY!!
Now nursing a sore butt and feeling like accomplishment achieved!!

weekends, working

2006-10-28T02:36:00.000-07:00

Today has been quite boring at office. We are compensating for some holiday and hence working on a Saturday. All my friends have called me since morning and asked me "where are u? working? I thought I'll meet you today" like ya rite, you didnt feel like meeting me for the past 1 month! And there is no work too since morning! I have been chatting or reading blogs or something like that...how terrible. I wanna go home! I wanna finish of the book I am reading for the past month! I wanna go shopping, I wanna do something else!!!

I wonder how people on bench feel, I mean if this is my state in a few days how must they be feeling for like months...

a very cool cartoonist

2006-10-11T02:38:00.000-07:00

gabeart

Green Valley!

2006-10-10T05:10:00.000-07:00

Misty mountain tops, lush greenery, a lone path, a railway track, endless number of high bridges and dark tunnels, this is Karnataka’s most favorite trek route. The Sakleshpur rain road trek, a must do for anyone who calls himself a trekker. I have wanted to do this since 2 years now. This last weekend, thanks to a good friend, I made it!

We started out Friday night almost close to midnight from Bangalore. The bus took us to Sakleshpur, the nearest town, in the wee hours of the morning. After a hot cuppa and packing some breakfast, we boarded another local bus that would drop us near Maranhalli, the starting point of our trek. We took a muddy slushy path in the forest, along scattered houses for about a kilometer to reach the first bridge. This railway bridge will be our actual starting point of the 16 KM trek on the railway track. We freshened up in the crystal clear stream water and finished up our breakfast. I rolled up my tracks to leech proof my legs by a liberal dose of amruthanjan, a strong balm of sorts. I was unfortunately too late, a little fella had already crawled up and latched on and was sucking my blood. My first leech bite!!! After 4 monsoon treks in the western ghats! Took a snap of my dark parasitic friend before salting him off. After armoring with the above said balm, we go on the bridge and set off on the track.

Took some snaps at the bridge. It was quite awesome standing on the bridge at such a height and no guard rails or such stuff. Started walking, measured steps on the sleepers, almost a catwalk. Little did I know that my walking habit would need re-training after the trek! A hundred meters and we encountered our first tunnel, a good 250 meters long one. Photos shoot time again! Picked up a rusty railway bolt as a memento and moved along. The bats had all flown off as the trains have started plying, this was a bit disappointing. As we started walking into the tunnel, it became pitch dark and we switched on a few torches. But after a few minutes of walking we decided to walk in the dark for the thrill of it. Reached the end of the tunnel and realized another tunnel starts off just a few meters away! The whole track is like this, full of numerous bridges and tunnels. It’s just fantastic!

The best tunnel was close to a kilometer long, which happened to be the longest one we had encountered in the whole trip. This has some wild turns in the middle and its pitch dark, quite a challenge. The only missing element was a loved one to smooch, feel up and maybe more! As we were walking along, we heard the following sounds: “It’s going left, completely left, left yaar, left, thud, ahha!” Our foreman, an enthu daredevil had miscalculated and instead of taking a right, he had taken a left and had fallen into a not so deep rain trench close to the tunnel wall and now he sports a nice mark on his head and nose! 

The best bridge was a wooden bridge, a few decades old. The wooden sleepers have not yet been replaced by iron ones and as such it is quite worn out and broken at places. This took a lot of nerve and concentration to cross. It was quite long and had a fast flowing stream underneath a few hundred feet down. It was a thrilling experience!

Towards afternoon we took a break, had just another 3 KM to our destination. We took a small path leading to a waterfall. After a cold bath and good water massage, and lunch, I slept off on a rock, head resting on my friend’s lap. It had been a while since I slept on someone’s lap… A good half hour’s rest later I woke up to a grey sky and by the time we packed and hit the track, a drizzle had begun.

We reached the destination station, Yedakumeri at around 5.30. The station master had setup quarters and the workers had moved on. After a bit of negotiation, we managed to get a room to stay for in the night. It was a diesel generator room, thankfully not running, the floor was not swept for ages and the slight smell of diesel oil hung in the air. No complaints, adjust and survive is the motto. The cook there agreed to give us hot water but no food as they were low on supplies, so just had cuppo noodles and a shot of whiskey and some vodka to keep warm and then sat down with the station master for a chat till 10 and then we hit sack.

Our initial plans for the next day was to cut across the forest, walk up 5KM and reach a near by village and catch a bus from there. Due to heavy rains, the path had an overgrowth of vegetation and would be infested with leaches. So, we made and alternative plan and kept this as a last resort. The station master told us that a goods train would be passing by at some unknown hour in the night, and he told us he could stop it briefly but it was for us to convince the driver to give us a ride. In the mean while another group of software guys had also come along and the station master refused to give them shelter and they ended up sleeping in the open-aired waiting room. People skills training does not seem to be effective enough.

The next day round 3 we were woken up and the station master told us to hurry. The train was almost there and was chugging along slowly. We all hopped on to the train and soon it started to move with a harsh jerk to warn us of its “non-passenger-friendly” way. Somehow I feel that the station master had sort of convinced the driver to take us - over radio. Oh that was the first time I saw what GSM-R is used for. And along with us the other group also tagged along. We all huddled up like sheep in the small coach and the since it was dark outside and there is not electricity in goods wagons, the other team were using all their torches. After some time all switched off except this one guy, all dressed up like a cowboy but hardly had the courage. He kept it on till I finally got annoyed and asked him to switch it off.

What an experience it was! The dark, the rattling train, the tunnels and bridges, the greenery, the mist and the emerging twilight. We reached Subramanya, a temple town with busses connecting to Bangalore at around 7. From there we took a jeep to the bus-stand half hour away. The jeep was stuffed, that’s the best way to describe it. I was practically in the driver’s seat and he in turn was almost leaning out and driving! 4 people in the front and 6 in the back and the luggage! And the man is ripping across in the Ghats! Whao! We reached the bus stand, caught the first bus to Bangalore and after a gruesome 9 hour ride reached home at 6 in the evening. The first 3 hours was in the Ghats section and man was it awesome! One fabulous trip done and many more to go!
The snaps are here by the way.

Passport!

2006-10-05T10:09:00.000-07:00

Today I saw this sign on the passport road.

If this is the state of the road leading to the passport then which way do we go with our passports? No wonder we have a lot of confused travellers! :)

Reservations in India.

2006-10-04T23:06:00.000-07:00

Today's headlines scream out to the public that "Our Prime Minister's Grandsons are ill and have Dengue". I so hope and wish that as an eye opener one of the grand child must be treated by merit students and the other by reservation students exclusively. That will I hope show to the PM how he is playing with his citizens and give him an understanding between basic education for all and professional courses on which lives depend.

According to our history, a good King would treating his citizens as his children. But our nation is in such sick political hands. Let the PM disprove this by treating his children like all his other citizens!

Don'd blame me for wanting to be under a great able king than under such lousy sick politicians.

A language independent of regionalism

2006-09-29T04:23:00.001-07:00

I am not sure if the word regionalism is a valid word but then I am too lazy to look it up and it serves the purpose here for me. Oflate I have been reading a lot of stuff about India and how we have sold ourselves to the western world and the struggles and fights of getting back our individuality and culture.

Despite all these, there is no real feeling of oneness amongst the countrymen. There are a million things that divide us and we are happy to fight to keep it up that way. Language is one such element. Living in banglore, this is one thing I keep hearing often, that we use english and all other languages except kannada. Quite true I agree, but things are changing. I myself am making an effort to use kannada. It's another matter, I was born to telgu speaking parents and can't speak telgu for nuts. I guess that's also a typical banglorean characterstic, where ever the origin, everyone born in banglore finds kannada as a comfortable language to speak in than the language that parents speak.

And getting back on track to a common language for Indians, I strongly feel that Sanskrit is one language that is not associated to any region. This would make a good common language if the government makes an effort to bring it about. Also, we as people wanting to be of one nation, should strongly promote this too, In terms of getting back our own identity as people of a nation, rather than the divided regions of India. Learning Sanskrit has been an elegant thing and I think its pretty cool too with all the complexities it has. I am not saying we throw away kannada or hindi or whatever the languages we speak, but across regions we must use Sanskrit than force others to learn our language, both as hosts and as visitors.

And similarly we must make an effort to make things common and Indian, respect others of the country than show them attitude. Humbleness and kindness has been our cherished values, lets go by it.

-My thoughts for a strong united India

value added services

2006-09-27T07:16:00.000-07:00

Sometimes when I go out of coverage area I wish I didnt have to loose my messages and if a internet is available around, It would be great if I could get it on my mail ID. This is actually simple, the software at the operator can be modified to recognise that a mobile is out of reach and instead of saving the message for further trying, it could be instead forwarded to the user's mail ID. Probably this could be done after a fixed intreval of retries may be 15 min to 1 hour configurable by the operator. Also a notification could be sent to the sender that the user is out of coverage area or something like that. Even better would be the user to be able to reply to that mail and an SMS reaching the sender. Pricing could be the same as normal SMS charges applied on the email. This would greatly increase the SMS usage even in roaming and could be quite profitable as a mass usage occurs.
a few teki thoughts once a while... :)

coining a new word...

2006-09-27T07:06:00.000-07:00

Every day while comming back from office I usually take the bylanes to avoid traffic. There is this one road where there is an apartment being build. The road is used as a store room for sand and gravel and some spills over to the ground and makes riding a nightmare. I have decided to call this situation as "Bikemare" :) and I usually have 2-3 bikemares on a good day!

Ride to Nandi hills

2006-09-27T00:41:00.000-07:00

I had been wanting to go on a ride to Nandi hills on my bike for sometime now. This last weekend I decided I am going no matter what. I called a lot of people and after a series of refusals I called up my close friend and cribbed that I really wanted to go! He agreed with doubts about the time. I wanted to leave by 7 and he was not sure if the hills would be that great at 9. So after convincing my mom, we planned to leave at 4.30 in the morning instead.

On Sunday, I got up at 4, got ready really fast and met up with him at 4.45. Man, talk about craziness. It’s amazing to ride at this hour in the city but once we reached the highway, the ride got slow with my headlights not being powerful enough. We reached the foot hills at around 6 and started the climb up. The upper part of the hills was mist covered and as we rode up, it soon became completely foggy and misty and the ride got better! It was super cool, awesome. After taking some snaps on my mobile camera, we reached the top by 7.

We roamed around the place watching the neighboring misty hill tops and the landscape down below, went into coffee plantations and hidden trails hardly taken. We were having a lovely time just the two of us, away from the crowed parts. Soon the sun stared to clear the mist and the hill turned plain and simple. We decided to head back at about 9 and were back home at 11 in the morning. Despite the day light, the road had this eerie feeling that prevented me from zooming back home so I did a slow 60 kmph ride back with a feeling of achievement, after so long a wait.

Bangloreans!!

2006-09-27T00:40:00.000-07:00

It’s very annoying when someone says something about Bangloreans. Every single person who comes to Bangalore has to crib about us; I don’t understand who gives them the right to criticize us. It’s our place and we live how we like to. Just because others come and settle here why should we should change ourselves to please them and make them feel at home. Give me a break; you want home, go back, why did you bother coming here. I find it very pitiable that they are such blind narrow minded people. You don’t go to Italy and say no one speaks Hindi here or that roads are narrow and such. When you go some where respect the people for what they are and not put them down and try to show you are superior. No one is, everyone is unique in their own way and no one is really superior as such. And don’t generalize because of just one person you see or interact with. I hit the roof when one of my favorite radio stations, radio Indigo, decided to do a poll on what people find irritating about Bangloreans. I don’t understand why they don’t have a poll on what Bangloreans find irritating about the outsiders. Is it because the content manager or the radio jockey is a non-Bangloreans who loves to put down people of the place she lives in? Grrr!!! A fuming Banglorean!

A visit to Shankar Mutt

2006-09-27T00:38:00.000-07:00

Shankar mutt has been on of my most favorite places to visit. During the dussera time, goddess Saraswathi is decorated in various forms each day and also there is a concert in the evenings. Yesterday I was insisting that I wanted to go as there was a bit of turmoil in my mind about something that had happened. So at 9.30 after dinner, I and mom went to the place.

This is a haunt of mostly Brahmin crowd. It was really pleasant, everyone is organized and clean, wear decent clothes and come as a family unit. The concert was going on by a local resident and it was quite nice. A lot of kids were running around and playing but not disturbing the atmosphere. Overall it’s a soothing environment. After praying for the goddess and the acharya for their blessings, I sat there contemplating if what I had done was right. And ultimately, I felt it was a good thing - what I had done. With a feeling of renewed motivation and aim I headed back home with a decision to go there everyday till dussera end.

Joy at Jog

2006-09-14T10:57:00.000-07:00

It was a thursday evening, One of my friend was headed to Jogfalls. I told him that I wanted to come and soon we were planning to do a 2 day trip to Jogfalls and Agumbe. But for some reasons, we had to settle for just Jog falls.

We left on Friday night and reached Jog at 6 in the morning. There was a slight drizzle and what a MAGNIFICIENT sight it was. I instantly fell in love with "Rocket". The beauty of the water smashing and exploding is beyond explanations. The water level in the dam had risen quite a bit and hence all the gates were opened making the falls very "FULL". We could not see roarer from where we were standing, nor could we see the end of RAJA as the mist rising was so thick. THe wind changes directions often making the falls appear and disappear behind the mist.

We decided to climb down. A local shopkeeper warned us of slippery rocks. As we started climbing down, I could feel my joints groaning like rusted joints. After about 20 minutes of climbing, our path was taken over by a stream but we continued our descent with wet shoes. But, the wind changed directions and in an instant there was a heavy downpour. We carried on but soon it became an wirl wind and the entire path was water logged. Our rain jacket, umbrella and water proof bags was no match for the 'Jog Rain', so we named it cause this rain was the mist rising from Jog. It was artificial rain!

We started to climb up, escaped the rain envelop and with numerous pit stops and chocolates to make up for the depleting energy levels we climbed back up. The timing was just perfect as the crowd had just started the descent and we had had our privacy and peace being early birds.

After a second round of break fast, we sat there drying our clothes and socks, taking pictures and me soothing my aching legs. Then we decided to walk to the other side, closer to the falls near the Raja rock. We took off our shoes as it was like wearing lead boots and walked the 3 km to the other side barefoot. There is a bridge which not only connects the 2 ends of river back but also sort of seperated the calm sharavati on one side and the gurgling falls on the other.

We reached the other side and rushed to see the vertically down view of the Raja falls. We can also see roarer from this side. It is a completely guided falls gushing out from a sudden bend in the rock above. It makes quite a noise, almost a thunder clap at times. The raja rock is a projection right next to the Raja falls and looking down from this point the abyss of the falls is visible when the mist clears. Also due to it proximity to the falls you can see the water exploding to billions of drops and mist. This view is priceless and mindblowing. After multiple peeks from the edge, we try to feel satisified but then, this is one of those things thats so attractive that dissatisfaction is guarenteed. After some time we head back, have some scanty food and want to spend time at the river bank.

There was no way to reach the water front, so we go instead to a green field. The rains which were holding back till now started lashing its wet tongue at us! We surrendered to the leeches in the field and headed back to the bus stand just in time for the bus to Sagar, a near by town.

At Sagar, since we had a couple of hours to spend, we had dosas and coffee, roamed around the town. It's a beautiful little town with very good looking people with an amazing complexion. Finally we boarded the bus and fell asleep instantly. Woke up in between couple of time due to leg ache but went back to sleep after shifting a bit. Sunday morning, back in banglore to find my bangalore in a pleasent post rains mood...

Shivagange

2006-09-14T09:10:00.000-07:00

THis weekend after a lot of past ditched plans, me and Chi decided to get our lazy butts to shivagange. It was a fantastic ride on tumkur road and I finally felt like having streached my bike's legs. Ofcorse, before we got to get on my bike and leave, my and her mom had a lot of gyan to impart AND sulk despite the knowledge transfer session. After a 'blasting' ride of 20 minutes we reached Dabaspet where we had to wait a good 40 minutes before the other couple came trotting along. Then on we took to the village road, and naturally the speed became an idle pace, the helmet came off, and the smell of fresh earth was so inviting, almost to the point of wanting to bury onself in it. We parked our bikes at the foot of the hills and started our climb. We went to the two temples on the way and as we we climbed upwards, my stength gave up and every thing went bright and blank. I had to rest awhile and let the blankness clear. When we looked up, it was a long climb and we decided to cut it short to about midway where there was is varalkal thirtha, a small temple with a water hole in it.

When we stopped next, near a small stall for some fresh lime and butter milk, we realised that we had gone beyond the point and that the top was almost near by. What we didnt realise though was that this was the best and most challenging part of the climb. With a dog for company we started off towards the rest of the climb. The inclination is almost 80 degrees and thankfully there is a iron railing all along. It was a thrilling climb till we reached the top. The top is like a plateau with a temple. THere is also a carved bull at one of the corners with just a few centimeters of space for us to go around it. After going around the basava (bull) we sat on the plateau with the wind in our face and enjoying the majestic view from the top and the dog keeping watch over the monkeys. Trust you me, these monkeys are a BIG threat. After an hour or so, we started our descent. The dog parted with us at the stall and in a few minutes we were attached by a monkey. Fortunately, another bunch of guys came along and its attention, rather attack, was shifted on them.

We came to varalkal thirtha. Its hidden in a deep cave and going around the god is quite an adventure with slipping and falling being a very likely possibility. Behind the god is this small deep hole into which you can reach down for water. The belief is that only the pure at heart can reach the water as the water level constantly varies. Well...only the 2 of us guys could reach it, and I shall let you make the conclusions. :-)

From the temple, a few minutes down hill and we were back on flat land. After a visit to a kolaku kola (dirty pond) nearby we headed back to banglore, bidding good by to our slower counterparts. We soon were zipping back home and in an hour or so were back.
One place down, many more to go...

The flow of Internet radio

2006-09-14T09:06:00.000-07:00

I had been wanting to buy world space for sometime now. The most important reason being the 24/7 western classical, jazz and trance excusive stations. It was a paradim shift for me when I was introduced to internet radio stations. Now I have dropped my worldspace plans and as the Internet serves one more of my needs, my support and belief in next generation networks becomes even more stronger. Lucky for me, I am part of the team bringing about this transformation.

Songs that move a nation

2006-09-14T08:19:00.000-07:00

I was born at a time when there was no cable TV, there was a lone channel, Doordharshan, the government run national channel. As such, it was a channel with little ads, with the aim being not to make money but to provide entertainment at the same time enrich the nation, to bring it tgether and instill the flare for bringing the nation forward.

One of my favourite songs that was aired was "Milay sur mera thumhara", when our voices unite...It had some of the most popular stars of that time singing this one phrase, in various languages. It was a beautifully composed and presented song, built around this simple meaningful phrase. There are lots of such patriotic songs in all languages. These are songs that move a nation, which have an impact. In this time where our nation is sold by corrupt politicians, multi-nationals treating us as 'cheap labour' and our strong intilligent youth running away to other nations, the same who once took our freedom, will these songs have any impact? Do we need to play them more often than ads or do we make it commercial, re-mix it, strip it of emotions and make them in-comprehendable words and play it on Independence day and dance like drunk maniacs...or just bury them so that they rest in peace with their composers...

Bhai

2006-09-14T08:14:00.000-07:00

Yesteray evening I managed to get out of office and also get someone to go to a movie with me. Both occuring together is quite a rarity. Went to Forum.

Oflate this place has become quite a pain to go to. The traffic outside, the people packed inside, the crowd outside the theater door, the security rules, the pain of keeping your helmet in some corner in the ground floor to go to a movie on the 4th floor, and leaving all "inflamable" things including smoke pack with the security, and paying an obscene amount of money for front row tickets with the speaker blaring away, the a/c being toooo cold, the booking of tickets some 10 days in advance...It's kind of becoming mindless. Sometimes, rather most times, I think in the name of progress and easy lifestyle, we are becoming less happy...

The movie was about following Gandhi's principles and all that. It was shot quite well with a different outlook and some day-to-day examples and all that. Would I follow it, no, I have never been a fan of Gandhi. But, it was nice to see a different prespective and a change in story narration.

This is the second movie where they are trying to get the people of India a message, a movie with not just sex and love but also a 'moral of the movie'. The striking thing was the use of radio as a means of reaching out to people in both the movies, the other movie being rang de basanti. FM has in a way takenover TV. But then, with the RJs in demand and a dirth of good ones, quality of the shows has come down significantly, and so has the language, with the aim of mass appeal and political appeal, a mix of english and local language usage which is quite jarring to hear at times is making radio not too appealing I feel. But, for now, we can re-write the song "Video killed the radio" to "FM is killing the video".

I hate crows!

2006-09-14T08:11:00.000-07:00

My office parking is pretty sad. There is no sheltered parking, and what makes matters worse is this other small company in the same campus has spent a bit of money and got shelter for the employee's vehicles. It's just too alluring for us and I usually tend to park my bike there, I do care about my bke's color fading and even more about the fuel evapourating under direct sun. Yestarday the security guard turned me away from there with a very kind word to tell my company to provide shelter if I needed one.

And yes, you guessed it right, the stuppid crows had a field day practicing to shoot shit - on my bike. I almost had a heartattack seeing my bike last evening. Today as I was cleaning my bike, I was telling my mom, how I wished all the non-veg people started to eat crows instead of chicken and help us bikers...

fast track

2006-09-11T10:23:00.000-07:00

Oflate I seem to be doing nothing much but still I am out of time to do anything. I love to read, to write, to sing, to play the violin, to pray, to make love, to meet my sweet heart, to get up early in the morning, to concentrate, to stay fit, to look good, to travel, to organise and a lot of other things. I just can't seem to find a heart to do anything. Today I make a resolution to take control of life and get it in order. This page will now on see how I am growing along with the usual thoughts on every day things that happen with me...

Tanjore Trip

2006-08-22T23:32:00.000-07:00

Had been to Tanjavour (Tanjore) and Trichunappalli (Trichy). The pictures are here!

Sometimes, I wish my fingers were doing something else…

2006-07-27T23:40:00.000-07:00

All I do everyday for a living is sit and type something mundane, boring and utterly craft less. I wish I was giving my fingers something else to do.
Probably hold a brush and use it to give fine strokes, delicate lines, confident sketches, and create a lovely painting…
Maybe hold a chisel and tap with a hammer, sometimes hard, sometimes soft and at times almost a feather touch, and create a magnificent sculpture…
Or hold a bow and strum the strings, with long pure notes, short crisp strokes an amalgamation of harmonies, and create a soothing melody…
Perhaps hold a pen and carve on paper, emotional poems, meaningful stories or blissful soul rendering songs, and create a masterpiece of literature…
If nothing else, hold the flowers born of this Earth which, I dug deep to reach her womb, planted seeds of her own creation, and nursed them to bloom…
I wish my fingers were doing anything else but typing on this keyboard!!!

Garden of Mine...

2006-07-19T08:36:00.000-07:00

Of late my garden has gone to the weeds, courtesy, the lazy me. But then, my garden has natural plants, developed by nature herself, which unlike the puny artificially developed advanced technology plants, don’t have much of a problem growing amongst weeds.

Today evening I went home and opened my bedroom window to let in some fresh air. Along with the fresh air came this wonderful fragrance that instantly filled my mind and I was elevated to a different level altogether. The source of this eternal fragrance, an eternal flower, said to have been brought down to earth from the heaven by Krishna for his wife Subhadra. The tale also says that the plant leant into the neighbor’s compound and all the flowers would fall into the neighbor’s compound, (where none other than the lovely Radha lived). My tree was also kind of like that a few years back but then thankfully now it has corrected itself and the blooms are on our side of the compound.

As I sit now at my comp, in my room, with the lovely smell pervading my room, I remember the day I walked into a classmate’s room 6 years back, a room filled with this all pervading divine essence of “Parijatha Pushpa”. The next day I got a small plant for my garden in hopes of my room becoming heaven. Now it is. Mother Nature has been kind to me. This is my thanks to her.

Rangashanakar...atlast...

2006-01-05T06:45:00.000-08:00

This was my first Kannada play and the second play I am attending in my life, the first one being an English play by pritam - a wonderful play about an actor - anyways this was also my first time at rangashankara. (I know I am terrible, only 1 play in my 23 years of existence is not a pardonable sin! Hopefully I can make up for all the losses). The theater doors were shut at sharp 7.30 and everyone had switched off their mobiles. That’s one thing I like about the theater, they enforce you to be punctual and non-distubant (mobiles force you to, I can understand). The play was a comedy, about a pauper fooling his landlord into giving him money. It was a nice hour long play but the best part was the clever usage of English in Kannada sounding tones. Its amazing how late T.P.Kilasam was able to conceive such marvelous plays. Well...as they say all good things come to an end (I thought all things come to an end…) and the play ended too. And I came back home at 9, no hassles with auto drivers or such things. What can I say, working inside the city and having your own vehicle has its advantages... :). Ok folks, play has ended now time for me to say good bye...till my next blog, c u...